Marker
by bearhow
Summary: After a visit, and a warning, from an unwelcomed Val-Yor, the Titans have no choice but to travel to deep space to solve the mystery of his ramblings. What they encounter is a horror nothing could have prepared them for. Dead space crossover. Main paring, Robstar.
1. Unwanted guest

**The season has officially begun! This story is gonna be intense which is why we're starting off with some lighthearted humor before we get to the good stuff.**

 **Huge HUGE thanks to Adrinsanne who gave me the idea for this story, by introducing the Teen Titans to the Deadspace universe. I hope I can do the source material justice and you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.**

 **Read and review.**

 **On with the show.**

 **Chapter 1: Unwanted Visitor.**

"Titans GO!"

The Boy Wonder revved the engine of his R Cycle, peeling off down the road towards the luxury sports car as it sped down the busy streets of Jump City. Starfire flew ahead, making sure the path was clear of civilians as the car reached dangerous speeds, and with it being a Friday night in August, the streets were plenty busy. With the windows of the car rolled down, Starfire could hear the mad cackling of the duo inside.

She placed a young woman on the ground before tapping a device inside of her ear. "Robin, Fang and Kitten are getting —" His motorcycle zoomed past her, " —away."

"I see them Star. Don't worry, we won't lose them again." He pulled up as close to their car as he was able before addressing his passenger. "Rose, get ready!"

Rose removed her arms from around his waist and got to a standing position on the tail end of his motorcycle. Removing a blade from her belt she leapt onto the speeding car, piercing the roof with her blade.

Robin was now eye level with the driver side of the car, giving him a good look at the spider-headed, Fang. With a hiss he spat his paralyzing venom at Robin while using his legs to try to impale, or push Rose off of the roof.

"Stupid Titans!" Kitten shrieked from the passenger side, "Your ruining date night!" Amidst the chaos, she was busy trying to stuff the jewelry that they had stolen into her purse while Fang began swerving the car to shake their unwanted passenger off.

Robin weaved through the traffic clicking a button on the side of his helmet to reveal a screen on the glass divider. "Cyborg, you've got the blockade ready?"

His bionic teammate appeared on the small screen, appearing apprehensive. "Eh, we kinda ran into a situation." Behind him, Robin could see a swarm of moths ripping apart cars, buildings and attacking civilians.

Robin growled, "Any way you can heard the moths to our location?"

BOOM!

Behind him, Robin could see their newest teammate, Drake, burn away a handful of the monstrous moths, while a green Eagle flew into the sky, shifting into a whale and free falling on top of another group. Cyborg flinched at the sickening sounds of crunching and squashing insects before gagging.

"I'll, uh get back to you." And he cut the feed.

— _ **/0/—**_

Cyborg turned back to the carnage taking place behind him once the screen cut out on his team leader. While Kitten and Fang where busy with their "date night", her father, Killer Moth, had been using his mutant insects to devour the city building by building. The ring master himself stood atop and enormous half a mile long moth, a red hot electric whip in his hand cracking the air as he shouted commands. With the sky beginning to darken by the wings of giant moths, Drake took to the sky weaving through the beasts to bring them down.

Killer Moth cracked his whip again. "Get that flying lizard!" He snarled.

Drake flew into the mouth of one of the moths, emerging on the other side, slimy and grumpy. "He did not just call me lizard." With flames lapping from his jaws, his attack intensified.

A giant triceratops barreled down another group of moths before shifting back to Cyborgs green-skinned teammate.

"What Robin say?"

Cyborg shot down a handful of moths that attempted to swarm them. "Any way we can corral these things towards Fang and Kitten?"

Beast Boy scratched his green head of hair. "Uh . . ." Drake, in his dragon form, landed behind them with a thundering boom, slime and gunk dripping from his armor. "Ew."

Drake shrugged, "I've had worse."

Beast Boy shuddered, "Hey, any way we can get these things towards Robin?"

Drake swiped at a moth with his tail. "Not unless you can shift into a giant net."

Beast Boy scratched his chin. Cyborg and Drake returned to the battle just as a lightbulb went off over his head. "Drake!" He shouted, "I have an idea!"

— _ **/0/—**_

Kitten laughed excitedly as she fastened the diamond necklace around her neck, at least until Rose's knife stabbed the top of her car again.

"My CAR! Fang get rid of her."

"I'm trying to baby —"

"— no your not!" She screamed, "You could have ended this if you would have just done as I said back at the bank."

Fang growled in frustration, his legs working as if having a mind of their own to get the Titan off of the roof of their car. All the while he swerved the car around the Jump City traffic. "Am I the only one who remembers what happened to the villains over the past year? Adonis is a vegetable, Dr. Light vanished, and Gizmo will never walk again —"

" —that little twerp never walked anyway."

Fang took a sharp left, causing their hitchhiker atop their car to cry out, but not fall. "My point is, things are weird now with the Titans, I don't know how or why, but it seems like I'm the only one that cares. Hell do you know who's on our roof now?"

Kitten rolled her eyes, "Slade's kid, and so what? He's gone too."

"Exactly! Slade! Freaking SLADE is gone! The only reason we're doing this tonight is 'cuz the witch hasn't been seen in months." Fang jerked the wheel, making one last attempt to shake off the Titan on the roof, and much to his surprise, Rose rolled off their car and onto the back Boy wonders bike.

They both began hollering excitedly. "I don't know about you," Kitten sang, "but — holy shit!"

Fang followed her line of sight to the sky directly in front of them, specifically the dragon dragging along an enormous green, net looking creature filled with her father's moths. In the center of the "net" and angry, roaring Killer Moth.

"Freaking Titans, they knew this thing was coming. They traded a witch for a Dragon?!. Fang stop the car!"

He didn't need his girlfriend screaming in his ear for him to slam on the breaks, but it was to late. The dragon swung the bulging net into the air until it came crashing down onto the pair effectively ending "date night".

— _ **/0/—**_

The Titans assisted in the usual "After battle" process of cleaning, damage control, paperwork, and helping place the villains into the police cars, but once that was all said and done Robin gathered his team.

"Beast Boy, What was that thing you turned into?" He asked.

The changeling rubbed his nails against his puffed out chest. "A Lions Mane jellyfish. Over a hundred feet long with a seven foot bell. Perfect animal for a net. OW!"

Rose gave him a playful punch to the arm, "Gotta admit, that was pretty slick thinking." He smiled weakly as he massaged his sore spot. "But aren't jellyfish venomous though?"

He shrugged, "Yeah, but the lions mane isn't as bad. It's the little guys you have to look out for."

"Well I was referring to dragon boy here," Rose motioned to the other side of the street where Drake, back in his human form, was picking dead skin off of his hands, "he was hanging on for quite a while there."

"I'm fine," he groaned, "I've had worse."

"Here Drake," Beast Boy walked over to him with his hand on the fly of his pants, "I'll help you out."

He screamed pushing the changeling away from him, "What the hell!?"

"What?" He genuinely appeared confused by Drakes outburst, "I was just gonna pee on your hands. Everyone knows that pee is the best thing for jellyfish stings."

Drake examined him, trying to figure out if he was being serious, and when he found no signs of his usual sense of humor, looked at him as if he had gone insane. "I don't care if I bathed in jellyfish, you're not pissing on me!"

Beast Boy suddenly grew a devious grin. "C'mon you'll feel better."

Drake backed away, "Come within an inch of me and your never having kids."

"Beast Boy, leave him alone." Robin chided. "He'll heal soon enough."

Drake glared daggers at the changeling who backed away, but still maintained a devious gleam to his emerald eyes. "Well this was fun," Cyborg announced, "who wants pizza?"

Everyone shouted happily, considering they had to abandon dinner earlier that evening, all except for their team leader who let out an audible groan. "It's Friday isn't it?"

— _ **/0/—**_

"Isn't it wonderful to be here as friends after the butt whoop." Starfire clapped.

"I guess," Rose shrugged, "I still don't know why they made me take my swords off." She kicked her swords that had been placed under the table. "Robin still has his belt on and I'm pretty sure he has a submarine in there." They glanced at the Boy Wonder who for some reason was hiding behind his menu, but before they could address the matter they turned their attention to the others. Cyborg was drooling into a bucket watching the kitchen while Drake and Beast Boy were typing away on their communicators.

"Who are you turky's texting?" Rose asked.

"I'm texting Beast Boy actually." Drake said without looking up.

"I'm texting — damn it Drake you took my joke."

Drake set his communicator down, "No, I SAVED your joke."

"Lemme guess," Rose leaned forward, stopping the arguing, and eyeing the two of them. She pointed at Beast Boy, "Your texting Raven, telling her all about your 'brilliant plan' with the jellyfish."

He scoffed, "Ugh! N-No I'm not." He shuffled his shoulders and went back to his communicator.

Feeling confident she turned to the other who wore a challenging grin. "You . . are texting . . . Kole!"

His smirk never left, "That's not how this game is played. What am I saying to her?"

Maintaining eye contact she tapped her chin, "Your telling her that Beast Boy is telling Raven about jellyfish thing."

Drake made a buzzing noise with his mouth, "Guess again, Tia."

He suddenly went rigid, but it was too late now. "Whose Tia?" Starfire asked, "This is Rose."

Mixture of embarrassment and sadness swelled inside of him. "Tia is what I used to call my sister. It's short for Cynthia." He chuckled at his slip of the tongue, "Rose just reminds me a lot of her."

Rose was about to burst into laughter, but she slapped a hand over her mouth allowing only a loud giggle. "So basically you made —"

"—Robin why you hiding?!"

Starfire eyed the two oddly, picking up on the silent communication passing between them, but couldn't figure out what it was they were "talking" about. She shrugged it off and brought herself back into the conversation which was now filled with snickers at the Boy Wonders expense.

"Our fearless leader —"

Robin slammed his menu down and pointed a finger at Cyborg, "—No!"

Cyborg pushed his finger away and continued, "— A few weeks ago a server started working here named Greg. Awesome kid, working his way through college, but he has a little bit of a crush on our Robi-poo."

The snickering increased in volume while Robin turned a deep shade of red. "Sorry Starfire." He moaned, but she waved him off.

"Worry not. You are a wonderful earth specimen of manliness. It makes the sense that both sexes find you attractive." She hooked her arm around his, "As long as you know that you are my Earth specimen."

"Ugh, get a room," Beast Boy groaned.

"How 'bout you get a, uh, on second thought no, don't do that." Cyborg shuddered, remembering that Beast Boy was now alone with his thoughts while Raven served out her time in San Francisco. And the very idea of Beast Boy —

"Pizza time!"

A young man, blonde haired, tanned skin, and a wide toothy grin, stepped from the restaurant with three pizzas in his arms.

"One extra meaty," he set the pizza in front of a hungry an anxious Cyborg, "one veggie," he placed another, smaller pizza in front of Beast Boy who was still staring at his communicator, "and one plain cheese." He placed the last one in front of Robin making sure to place himself between him and his girlfriend as he set it down.

With his face as red as the tomato sauce, he tried to avoid eye contact, but also wanted to nip this in the bud as soon as he could.

"Hey Robin,"

Everyone but Robin seemed to notice that Greg's usual greeting was less lively towards the Boy Wonder than usual. "Hey Greg. Look—"

"And you, Mister new Titan, what's your name?" He suddenly brushed past him and extended his hand towards Drake.

"Drake," he greeted with a firm handshake, "Greg right? The designated Titan server?"

"That's me," he smiled putting his now free hand on Drake's shoulder, "If you need anything just let me know."

"Will do bud," With a quick caress, Greg left the Titans to their meal, but made sure to spare a glance over his shoulder before disappearing into the restaurant.

"Oh wow."

Drake already had a slice of pizza in hand, "What?"

"Dude, he's got it bad for you." Beast Boy laughed, but amazingly Drake just shrugged it off much to the confusion of everyone.

"So?"

They looked to each other. "But I thought you were 'old fashioned'?" Said Rose, "You still blush when someone says 'sex' out loud."

Blushing, he responded, "Well I guess I had to accept it sooner. My older brother was attracted to men and yeah it was a bit shocking at first, but he's my brother. Nothing changed. In the end we all bleed the same color." He finished off his slice between breathes, "It's ironic though. My father was more accepting of my brother then he was of me marrying a queen."

With a wisecrack at the ready, Beast Boy grew a large grin which quickly earned him a kick to the shin under the table by Rose.

Robin went for a slice of pizza and ripped into it like an angry animal, "Well, at least I know Batman."

— _ **/0/—**_

Beast Boy felt a sharp elbow to his ribs, bringing him from his stupor to address the young woman who was attempting to get his attention.

"You okay BB?" Rose asked, "and don't tell me nothing cuz I can see the tiny gears moving in your head." He chuckled before turning his attention to the world going by outside the car window. "Awe You missing your lil' bird."

"Duh, but I've actually been thinking about what Drake said. About taking away my ability to have kids." The aforementioned Knight was flying back to the tower seeing as there was no room in the car for him.

"Well in his defense, you were trying to piss on him. I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it."

"I know Cy, but kids, and my ability to have them, has always been in my mind. My unstable DNA doesn't make it easy."

"Well if Drake can have children so can you." Everyone noticed that usual bite to Starfires tone when she spoke about the Dragon Knight was getting better, but still heavy.

"Drake is different. He shifts with sorcery, not biology like our Beastie Boo."

"Anyways," Beast Boy felt the tips of his ears burn telling him he had to move the conversation along, "What if Rae wants kids and I can't give them to her."

"I would imagine kids might be a tender subject for her, considering the whole Trigon thing." Robin commented from the front passenger seat. "Maybe you should talk to Raven about it."

He shrugged, the cars and buildings going by becoming increasingly more interesting, "I don't know, we haven't been dating long enough to start talking about kids."

A sense of dejection snuck into his tone that was starting to weigh on the occupants of the T-Car. "Hey cheer up BB," He winced when Rose elbowed him in the ribs, "nothing definite yet, but if you need any comfort you wouldn't be the only one who can't have kids."

"Yeah, I can't," Cyborg waved from the driver side, "but who needs kids when I have your green butt to worry about." Beast Boy playfully punched his best friend eliciting light hearted laughter from the car.

"Yeah that too," Rose continued, "but I was talking about me."

The tension returned, "Friend, you cannot bear children? Why not?"

Her shoulders sagged, but she was still able to manage a small shrug, "Trained by an assassin remember, kids tend to complicate things so he made sure I wouldn't have any . . " she swallowed a growing lump, "complications." The silence dragged for a moment before she sniffled and slapped a smile onto her face. "But hey, I've come to terms with it all. Won't have to worry about losing a kid or nothin', I mean what more could I lose right?"

The silence fell like a hammer, Cyborg in particular glanced at the Boy Wonder beside him who appeared affected by what Rose had said. Sure she was the daughter of their most hated enemy, but at the end of the day she was still a human being, and their new team mate.

The T-Car suddenly turned a shade of red when an alarm began blaring from the dashboard.

"What is it?" Like a switch Robin was back in leader mode.

Cyborg was already busy pressing buttons to figure out the situation. "I've got something big headed for Titans Tower. From the sky."

"Space?"

Cyborg typed again, "Yup."

"Dude!" Beast Boy pointed out the car window towards the Tower in the distance and a red hot object headed right for it.

Robin tapped the small communications device in his ear, "Drake —!"

"— I see it." From the car they could see their dragonic teammate take off faster towards the tower.

"Cyborg, step on it."

"Oh yeah!" He slammed his metal foot against the accelerator, "buckle up y'all!" The Titans didn't take their eyes off the falling object that was still heading for their home when something slammed into the side of it, knocking it off course and towards the forest.

"Cyborg —!"

"Dude I got it!" He jerked the wheel to the left, throwing Robin against the window and those in the back seat against each other.

"Watch the hands Beast Boy!" He threw his hands against the ceiling of the car and far away from the swordswoman that had been thrown against him. Fortunately the crash sight wasn't much farther, so he may just live to see another day.

The T-Car ripped through the forest, heading for the flames that began licking at the surrounding woodlands. A spaceship, as big as at least two school buses and dented with battle wear, sat tipped to the side from the crash. Both engines had been ripped off the sides, but luckily it didn't appear to have any holes in the haul or the cockpit at the top of the ship.

"Dude another crash landing?"

"It's been a few years Beast Boy, let's just make sure their —" His eyes widened behind his mask as a mixture of surprise and anger suddenly swelled inside of him. His grit his teeth, the others in the T-Car quickly coming to the same conclusion.

Noticing the change in atmosphere, and the fact that the car came to a sudden halt, far from the crash, Rose spoke up. "Uh, am I missing something?"

"We recognize that ship." Cyborg spoke with venom as he stared pointedly at the down spacecraft.

"Class A douchebag owns it." Beast Boy added, "I say we drive home and pretend we never saw it."

"I'm with grass stain." He turned around waiting for the others to agree with him.

"Uh, I have no idea what's going on so —"

"We must see if someone is injured." Without another word Starfire stepped out from the car and headed flew for the crash sight, Robin right behind her.

"I'm still super lost."

Cyborg sighed, "It's a long story. If we're lucky though this isn't his ship." He exited the car, followed shortly by Beast Boy and Rose.

Debris smoked along the path of the ship as Starfire worked to put out the small fires. Robin was by the ship tending to the human Drake who was cradling his left arm.

"Ready?" Robin positioned himself by his arm, placing his hands by his dislocated shoulder.

"Hit me."

Robin braced, "One—"

POP!

"SWEET GOD IN HEAVEN!"

"You'll love ya big baby," Cyborg patted him on the back and began looking over the ship, "Any chance this is a different ship then the one from last time?"

Drake rotated his shoulder to get some movement back. "You've seen this thing before?"

Starfire, Rose and Beast Boy stood back, "A few years ago." Starfire gave as a short answer.

Robin stood beside Cyborg, "Anyway you can get this thing open?"

He nodded, turned his hand into a buzz saw and began to cut away at the ships steel.

A sharp hissing startled the team followed by the lowering of a large metal door and the appearance of a wide shouldered, sharp chinned, silver skinned man. The Titans stood back, Robin stepping in front of his girlfriend, whose eyes burned a bright green at the sight. It was clear to Rose and Drake that the older members were familiar with the alien visitor. He staggered from the ship before landing face first into the dirt.

All the while he was muttering something incoherent.

"Drake, Beast Boy What's he saying?" Robin demanded.

Both trained their sharp ears, but were unable to discern anything from his ramblings. Cyborg took it upon himself to lean in closer to try and hear what he was muttering.

"Val-Yor? Yo! Why you back?"

With incredible reflexes Val-Yor leapt from the ground and grabbed Cyborg by the throat and pinning him against the side of the ship with a slam. Frightening, but also gave the Titans a good look at their former ally. Val-Yor's eyes were wide with terror and pure madness. His muttering quickly turned into terrified screams, screams that sent a chill through the Titans as they attempted to pull him off of Cyborg.

They managed to hear three words amidst the screams.

"Titan. Troq. Marker."


	2. The Ship

**Sorry it's been a while since I've updated. I needed to do some research for this chapter and was setting up my YouTube channel. Go check out bearhow on YouTube if you haven't already and leave a comment on what content you'd like to see.**

 **Anyways back to this.**

 **You know the drill.**

 **On with the show**

 **Chapter 2: The Ship**

Down in the lower levels of the tower, Robin watched with arms folded and an angry scowl seared onto his face as Cyborg, Drake and Beast Boy, in the shape of a gorilla, attempted to bind the thrashing Val-Yor to a medical table. From the crash sight until now the same three words ripped from his throat, echoing throughout the entire tower. True Robin wasn't fond of Val-Yor by any stretch of the imagination, but he couldn't deny that something had truly terrified the arrogant alien hero, and that fact alone put the Boy Wonder on edge.

The doors behind him opened, but he kept his brooding stare fixed on what was happening in front of him, even when Rose stepped up beside him.

"Where's Starfire?" He asked.

Rose took notice of the edge to his voice, even if it wasn't aimed at her for once. "In the living room. Now are you going to tell me what the deal with this guy is?"

Robin was quiet for a moment, reflecting on his next words carefully. "I'll tell you when Drake is here too, that way I don't have to repeat myself."

Rose looked him over, not once did his stiff posture or pursed lips relax. He was angry, but also worried. "Does this have anything to do with Starfire? You sure got her outta here in a hurry." Once again it was quiet except for the yelling and constant screaming which only began to settle when Cyborg began administering drugs.

"You could say that," he muttered.

His teammates finally emerged from the small holding cell, after finishing with the drugs and wires now flowing in and out of their now quieted guest.

Robin turned sharply, oblivious to how his cape slapped against an annoyed Rose. "What's the status?"

"I've pumped him with enough sedatives to drop a couple of bull elephants so he should be out the rest of the night," Cyborg, appearing exhausted leaned against the wall and slid to the floor, "my scanners are running diagnostics on him as we speak, but that shouldn't take to long."

"Exciting. Now how's about we get to the part where you tell us who he is." Rose stood by Drake as being the only two out of the loop.

"Val-Yor crashed landed a few years ago," Robin began, looking into the room with Val-Yor, "We helped him in destroying a hostile alien race. What we didn't know is that he had a prejudice against Tameraneans, Starfire's people." His hands formed into tight fists at his sides. "He demeaned her, insulted her, hurt her. Called her a Troq, which is their equivalent of a racial slur. Needless to say we didn't part on good terms."

Cyborg and Beast Boy remained silent while the other two took in the information. "Hm, well it sorta makes sense why he's here." Said Drake, "It's a message for Starfire."

"I came to the same conclusion as soon as he opened his mouth." Muttered Robin.

"What does it mean?" Asked Beast Boy.

"He won't be telling us any time soon that's for sure. Maybe my scanners will, but I'm not worried about it." Cyborg got to his feet, "I'm headed to bed."

Rose looked over each of the men who appeared indifferent. "Uh, shouldn't we wait till the scanners are finished? This is kind of a case now."

Robin looked back at Cyborg, "Is there anything we can do now, besides listening to him muttering?"

Cyborg shook his head, "He's out. He's not talking anytime soon."

With a curt nod, Robin turned around fully to address his team. "Everyone head to bed, no early morning training tomorrow."

Eyes went wide in disbelief, but so far Drake was the only one to speak. "I'm sorry I must have a marching band playing in my ears. Did you say that training is canceled?"

Robin didn't respond. He only turned back around staring into the room where Val-Yor continued muttering. Robin couldn't shake the nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach that something was wrong.

Very wrong.

— _ **/0/—**_

With a hiss the common room doors opened to allow Drake entrance into the living parea and the first thing he heard was the shattering of glass and shouting. Shouting that he assumed was cursing in Tameranean. The alien princess herself was cleaning up a plate she had dropped on the floor.

"Here let me," he knelt down to help her, but she pulled away.

"I am fine. I do not require assistance." She took the shards and deposited them into the trash can. Taking a peek inside, Drake couldn't help but notice that there had been a few more casualties as she attempted the dishes. With the plate cleaned up, Starfire went back to the sink and continued her work on the dishes.

Drake watched her as she moved about the kitchen. She appeared as if she was trying to keep herself focused on the task at hand, but something was still weighing heavily on her mind. Remembering the conversation in the basement of the tower, Drake sat himself on top of the counter as Starfire continued with the dishes.

"Ya know, when my brother 'came out', he was treated differently. Not by me or my sister, but my father, and uncles looked at him differently. They came to except him in time, but . . . it was still hard on him. And I know the relationship with your sister is strained, but when one family member hurts, we all do." Dishes clattered against each other as Starfire went about her work as if she wasn't hearing him.

He continued, "Even I was treated differently back in my time. It was common to think Dragon Knights were just brutish oafs that abused the art of magic. I guess what I'm saying is that I understand how it goes."

The clattering and running water suddenly stopped. "Do you? Do you know what it's really like to be judged like I do?"

She turned to face him, tears already moistening her eyes. He nodded. "First they called us lizards, then lizard men, then just lemons." He chuckled, "we protected this world, and we were nothing more then fruit. But at least I had my family, and Elsa." He stood up and headed for the doors.

"And I have my friends." Starfire said quietly, then spoke a bit louder. "That includes you too I suppose."

They turned to face each other, "So am I still a _Zlobar_?"

They stood in silence for a moment before she turned back to the sink to finish the dishes, but couldn't stop the smile on her face.

— _ **/0/—**_

The night had gone by too fast for the Boy Wonder, and though he told everyone there wasn't any morning training, he still felt the need for himself. Plus he was always up early anyways so it didn't matter either way. He leaned forward onto the table in the conference room, putting his chin on top off his knuckles while Cyborg prattled along.

" — so basically everything looks just fine considering. He's as healthy as a space horse. The only thing I found wrong is his mind. It's basically space Swiss cheese."

Robin rubbed his hands through his jet black hair. "So we have nothing. No way of knowing what the message for Starfire could be."

Cyborg shrugged, "Pretty much. But we still have an option. His ship."

Robin creased his brow. "What about it?"

"Well the T-Ship and Car log everything when their taken from the tower, maybe his ship does the same thing. Either way it's the only lead we have now."

Robin leaned back in his chair, giving serious thought to what Cyborg was proposing. "Your right. It's our best bet right now. But I don't want you going alone. Take Beast Boy and Drake with you."

Cyborg nodded. "I planned on taking backup anyways, but just curious, what's got you so on edge about all this?"

He scoffed, "What are you happy to see Val-Yor again?"

"No. And I get it, I do, but you seem extra antsy."

Robin folded his arms looking down at the table. "I'm not sure. Val-Yor was as arrogant as they come and wouldn't scare easily, but even though his mind is gone, he was clearly afraid of something."

Cyborg gave a curt nod. "Let's hope his ship can tell us what he's so scared of."

"And if we can stop it."

— _ **/0/—**_

The warm summer sun beat down on a Dragon, and green pterodactyl that was carrying a bionic young man to the spacecraft that had crashed in the forest. Visitors from other worlds wasn't uncommon in Jump City, so it's inhabitants new that whenever such an event happened to just steer clear. However the same couldn't be said for some of the teenage demographic.

"Hey! Buzz off!"

A group of teens were loitering around the spaceship, kicking at debris and looking for a way in. But one shout from the Teen Titan Cyborg sent them running. "Punks."

"Well at least they can't say they ever get bored in this city." Drake commented.

Cyborg shrugged before pointing to the top of the ship and it's cockpit. "Let's touch down there."

A few mighty flaps of wings and the three Titans landed. Drake and Beast Boy shifted back to their human forms, leaving Cyborg to begin cutting through the metal with a buzz saw. Out of the corner of his eye, Drake could see Beast Boy shifted nervously.

"You Alright?"

Beast Boy nodded shakily, "I'm the entire animal kingdom in one beautiful specimen, so half of me wants to turn tail and peace out, while the other half," he took it a shaky breath as he rocked back and forth on the balls on his as if he was gonna run, "also wants to peace out. Aren't you feeling like that."

Drake squared his shoulders. "Dragons are apex predators, there isn't much that scares them."

"So your not scared?"

Drake snorted, "Well I didn't say that."

The sound of metal thudding brought their attention to the now gaping hole in the ship. "You two coming?"

They followed behind him as Cyborg disappeared into the ships darkened cockpit.

Drake took a long drag of air as soon as his feet clanked against the metal floor. "You smell that?"

Beast Boy began growling deep inside his chest. "Yup."

"Smell what?" Cyborg has turned around watching the two animorphs with curiosity and worry.

"Nothing," Beast Boy shook his head as if to clear his senses. "Just make it quick. The sooner we get outta here the quicker I kick your but in Monkey Ninjas three."

Cyborg scoffed, "Your so on grass stain." He hurried off into the darkness of the ship. Even though it was mid afternoon, the sun provided little light leaving Cyborg alone to try and get the lights to come on.

Drake and Beast Boy meandered the ship, Drake taking notice that Beast Boy seemed to have calmed down a bit.

"You seem to be doing better?"

Beast Boy shrugged. "Rae taught me to suppress me animal instincts like she does with her empath stuff. It's not turned off, but lessened enough so that I don't feel like I need to get outta here."

"And here . . we . . Go!" After some clunking electrical surging the lights to the cockpit finally came on. Cyborg and Beast Boy looked around with nostalgia and a sense of regret. They had been on this ship before after all, before they had known about Val-Yor and his prejudice, they revelled in awe at his stories and strength, so much so that they didn't hesitate to join him. They looked at each other, passing along the silent communication as they reflected on the experience together.

It was just like they had imagined it. The large chair in the center of the cockpit where Val-Yor barked his orders, the individual chairs where each Titan sat, the chair where Beast Boy and Raven sat across from each other manning the blasters, and the —

"GAH!" Beast Boy leapt on top of Drake after letting out a high pitched girlish squeal, "DUDE WHAT'S THAT!?"

They followed his line of sight to the wall of the cabin landing on an enormous dripping sack of flesh attached to it. Thick pulsing tendrils stretched from the sack and spread across the roof and walls and wrapped around the various chairs, and in and out of the control panels.

Beast Boy patted the top of Drake's head, but didn't take his eyes off the sack. "What is that?"

Drake tossed the changeling off of him. "Looks like a cocoon or something."

O

"A super gross one." Cyborg gagged as a long line of excrement dripped from the sack. "I should probably run some tests on it, so uh, get me a sample y'all." He dig around a compartment on his chest and removed a petri dish and a scalpel and handed them to Beast Boy.

He nearly dropped the items in surprise. "Wait what?" Beast Boy squeaked.

"I gotta get information off the ship's computer. I just need a little sample is all." Without another word he went to the computer leaving his teammates to themselves.

"Well you heard him." Beast Boy shoved the supplies into Drake's arms. "Get a sample."

Drake frowned, "Why me?"

"Dude, your the big bad monster hunter, what's a little goop?"

Drake grimaced looking at the slime covered sack. "Oh lemme guess, your 'animal instincts' won't let you near it?"

"Exactly. I'm just honoring my inner animal voice."

He scoffed rolling his eyes. "Pussy." With the dish at the ready he began to scoop some of the cocoon into the dish. Cyborg had returned to watch what would actually happen and was waiting alongside Beast Boy with bated breath.

The next few seconds were a blur.

As soon as the small knife made contact, a rip appeared in the center of the cocoon revealing a humanoid creature that began shrieking in Drake's face, covering him with saliva, slime, and even blood. With incredible reflexes, and instincts that came from years of battle, Drake removed his special dagger and stabbed the humanoid in the throat. It thrashed it's human skull-like head, biting, hacking and spitting at the Dragon Knight who dug the dagger deeper into its throat until all that could be heard was gurgling and the dripping of its blood.

Cyborg and Beast Boy, in the ensuing chaos, grabbed onto each other, screaming like banshees. "WHAT THE HELL!" they said simultaneously. "WHAT IS THAT?!"

Drake removed the dagger and attempted to wipe the slime off of his face. "Nothing I've ever —" He cocked his head to the side listening carefully. Cyborg released Beast Boy, whose ears were already twitching.

"Guys, whats up?" Cyborgs question was soon answered by the sounds of snarling and screeching coming from further into the ship.

"Might wanna hurry with that computer stuff Cy. We've got company. Let's go Beast Boy."

"Uh, I should probably stay with —"

"NOW!" Drake opened the doors that would led them into the ship and was assaulted with a stronger stench than what had greeted them when they had arrived. The smell of death and blood accompanied with the sounds of feral creatures coming right at them.

"Cyborg how long do you need?"

Cyborg slammed his fist onto the computer, "I haven't been able to hack it yet."

Drake rolled his eyes, "Great."

"Come on dude. It's go time." Both Titans took off down the halls of the ship, halls that had been covered in the same tentacle vine-like structures much like the pulsing sack from the cabin. "Dude are we in the Upside down or something?"

"I don't know what that means. Just stay sharp." They wouldn't have to wait long. Humanoid creatures charged at them from down the hall, snarling and hacking as they ran. Upon closer inspection, these creatures barely passed for human, having contorted and twisted into unnatural shapes, including extra arms on their backs with long bone-like blades protruding from their palms.

"I'll take the lead," Beast Boy changed into a bull and charged headfirst at the oncoming horde. Drake drew another blade, a larger twenty seven inch sword, and hopped on top of the green bull.

They made impact, sending bone, flesh and blood in all directions before changing into a large grizzly bear. Drake leapt off of his back and into the fray slicing a few of the heads off the creatures. Now that they were closer, they got a better look at the beings, and the very sight made their stomach turn. It was impossible to tell what they were, or what they used to be. Skin, bones, and organs had moved and conformed to create new, horrifying shapes and limbs that Slashed bit, and stabbed madly at the Titans.

"What are these things!?" Beast Boy had shifted back, fast enough to ask before changing into a velociraptor and continued his assault.

Drake was pinned to the ground as a handful of the slashing beasts fell on top of him. "No clue!" With one swipe of his dagger, he cut off the bone-like blades that held him down, and as an added measure, Beast Boy swiped his tail to get them off of him. Drake didn't have time to wipe the blood off of himself when he bolted back at the beasts.

Beast Boy leapt onto one of the creatures, clamping his jaws on top of its head and ripping it off its shoulder just as a bone blade came through his shoulder. He shrieked in pain, shifting into a gorilla and tossing the creature off of him. With his new injury the most he could do is swing his incredible arms like rags to knock his attackers away from him, but more and more kept coming down on him. Finally, unable to fight them off any further, he shifted into a large desert tortoise, shielding himself from the creatures that wanted his flesh.

Drake stabbed and swung, cutting the beasts into pieces until noticing that his teammate was down. But before he could run to his rescue he was grabbed from behind, this one much bigger than the others and a lot rounder. To escape its hold, Drake slashed off the arms that held him then swung around to stab it in its belly. A chilling chittering noise came from deep within its belly until tiny creatures emerged from the slice in its gullet, quickly consuming him. He fought the creatures off, until one of them attached to his face and inserted a long tentacle deep into his throat.

Infuriated, and a flash of light was all that was needed for Drake, in his dragon form, to burn the creatures that covered his body to ash. One roar got the attention of every creature in the hall, and one burst of flame turned them all into dust.

With the creatures now gone, Beast Boy shifted back into himself, cradling his injured shoulder. "I-is that it?" He panted.

Drake snorted and sniffed the air. "No. That was only the first wave. More will be coming."

Beast Boy got to his feet. "Dude, why was Val-Yor traveling across the universe with these things on his ship?"

Drake stomped past him as the sounds of more of the monstrosities echoed through the ship, "Let me go ask."

"That won't be necessary." Metallic footsteps pulled their attention to the oncoming Cyborg. "I've got all the data I need a — yo, what the hell happened to you guys?" He grimaced as he noticed both were covered in slime, blood, bone and flesh, Beast Boy in particular holding his limp and bloodied arm.

Drake's jaws lit with fire and smoke, "We don't have time, more of those things are coming?"

"Well that's true that we don't have time. I activated this ships self destruct, giving us a few minutes to get outta here. So let's bounce."

"But I—GAH!" Drake grabbed Beast Boy by the collar and threw him onto his back, considering Beast Boy would be unable to fly in his current state. On all fours he and Cyborg ran back to the doorway they had made and took to the sky. Beast Boy on Drake's back and Cyborg in his claws and didn't look back. Not when the unholy sounds of the creatures came on them and definitely not when the ship blew itself sky high.

 **you know I realized that it's been a while since I've done a huge action chapter. Don't worry this story will have more of it.**

 **Read review and I'll see ya next time.**


	3. The mission

**Alright whose ready for some fluff! We've got a couple of special guest stars coming our way so be sure to make them feel welcomed by reviewing and loving this chapter. Enjoy it while you can, cuz the next chapter is where shits gonna get real.**

 **on with the show!**

 **Chapter 3: The mission**

A frowning and agitated Robin stomped his way into Cyborgs laboratory, ready to give his teammate an earful for blowing up the ship. The local police department wasn't to keen on exploding ships in the forest, but he assured them that they had it under control, even if that was only sort of right. He was ready to rip him a new one until he got two feet from the door and heard the nauseating sounds of retching coming from inside. Grimacing he stepped into the workspace, watching as Drake, bent over a bucket, released the contents of his stomach while Beast Boy rubbed his back.

Robin cleared his throat. "Um, report? Why did you blow up the ship?"

"Short version," Cyborg began, "We ran into some disgusting alien race inhabiting the ship. Drake and Beast Boy took them on while hacked the ships data. In the end I felt it was the best decision."

"And I can't be sure," Drake groaned, "but I might be pregnant." And he continued heaving into the bucket.

"Don't worry dude, Cy's running scans as we speak." Beast Boy smirked as he continued to rub his back. "Then afterwards I'll get you a nice Tofu lunch."

The heaving intensified. "Argh I hate you."

"But were you able to get the info from the ship?" Robin asked doing his best to ignore Drake.

"I'll get to that when I can, but right now I gotta focus on Drake." Cyborg shuddered, "Rob, you didn't see these things. They were . . ." He trailed off, unable to adequately describe the horrors he had seen, however brief it may have been.

"I've never seen anything like it. And I've seen a lot of shit." Drake hoisted himself onto his feet, throwing his arm over Beast Boy's shoulders.

Robin folded his arms over his chest as the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. "Did you manage to record any of the attack?"

"Always, but like I said not until—" BEEP. "Speak Of the Devil." Cyborg went to his computer looking over the large screen. "Good news Drake, your clean."

He heaved a breath of relief and removed his arm from Beast Boy's shoulders, "Thank god. If you need me, don't." And he stormed from the lab.

"Geez, what's his deal?"

Robin watched him leave, already forming a theory and a solution. "We'll Worry about him later, Cy go over—" BEEP! "Now what? . . . Cy?. . . Cyborg?"

He looked at the screen, horror turning his face pale. "I ran the DNA of those monsters. It's human."

The silence choking the Titans became frightening, but Robin was quick to break it. "Tell me everything that happened. All of it."

— _ **/0/—**_

The Titan's fitness area was equipped with all the state of the art bells and whistles for both super powered beings and non, including heavy bags made for those possessing incredible strength. The perfect thing for someone like Drake to release his frustrations on. Shirtless, and dripping with sweat punches and jabs flew furiously at the bag.

He could still feel the tentacle of that thing sliding down his throat, making him gag at the very thought. Violated was to kind a word. How could he have let that happen? He was a trained killer, monster hunter, warrior, and some . . thing got close enough to do god knows what to him. Thankfully he passed Cyborgs scans, still the emotional toll was done.

He punched again, snarling in frustration as his bare knuckles left bloodstains against the hard leather.

"And what did that bag ever do to you?"

His heart skipped a beat in startlement. He wasn't expecting anyone to bother him, least of all her.

He faced the door, sweeping the figure of the pink haired angel of the lord, arms folded and eyes narrowed.

"What are you doing here Kole?" He asked, a slight edge to his tone. At least she didn't see him almost get impregnated by some alien flap monster.

She shrugged slipping into the training room. "Robin was worried about you. Apparently Your ego took a huge blow."

Drake spun around, smoke slipping from between his teeth as he spoke. "My ego? I was violated by some alien . . whatever."

Her face softened slightly, "I know, and believe me I understand, remember Dr. Light?" Anger boiled in his veins at the very name, "But that's not what this is about is it?"

He tilted his head, "What else would this be about?"

She shrugged a shoulder, "I don't know, you tell me."

He rolled his eyes going for his shirt, "I don't have time for this."

"Drake." He paused before turning around one hundred and eighty degrees to face her only to take a boot to the gut. He slammed against the bag, Shock plastered onto his face.

She stood tall with her hands on her hips, "Come one Drake. Let's see if we can't get that ego of yours on your back on its feet."

He coughed a laugh, "I told you this isn't —" she spun, aiming a roundhouse kick into his gut again, but this time he caught her foot. "Stop kicking me."

"Make me." She leapt, his hands still on her foot, and used her other foot to kick him back into the bag, releasing her. She landed and did another spin kick, but this time he moved behind the bag, avoiding her blow.

Thinking of his next move he took a moment to admire he bare legs. "Someone didn't skip leg day I see."

"Focus. I'm trying to kick your ass." She spun with the grace of a dancer until she was on the same side of the bag with him, before throwing a strike with her fist into his face. He blocked with his forearm, grabbed her wrist, and pinned her arm behind her back and with his other arm held her against him.

"Why?"

She wriggled but wasn't escaping his grasp. "To prove a point. But it only works if I win."

He was confused, but he held firm, at least until a piece of solid crystal slammed into the side of his head. Disoriented and dizzy, it was easy to kick his legs out from underneath him and pin him to the ground with crystal shackles. Legs on either side of his waist, she straddled him, further pinning him to the ground.

He struggled against both her and the crystal bonds before letting his head fall against the ground in frustration. "Kole what do you want from me?"

"Just tell me what the real reason is that your frustrated."

He growled, "Cuz if I'm careless, or if I'm not efficient in everything, then people will die. My team could die."

She looked him over, not finding deceit, and grew a small smile, "Did you just say this was your team?"

His head hit the ground a second time, "Argh, yes their my team alright." He let out a long slow exhale. "All joking aside, if I don't know what's happening, or what we're up against, how will I be able to protect us?"

She let loose a full smile, shaking her head. "Believe it or not these guys were good without you, and they'll be good with you."

"Then why am I here?"

"Easy." She leaned closer to him, "To make yourself better."

He looked into her cobalt eyes, enjoying the view that her new uniform provided. "We're friends right?"

She pinched her brows in confusion, "Yes?"

"Do friends usually straddle each other while being strapped down?"

She hurriedly removed herself from atop him and released his crystal bonds, her face glowing red. "N-No. like I said. Making a point is all."

He sat up with a groan. "Is that why you can here?"

"No," she sighed, "Like I said, Robin was worried about you and asked me to check in. I could tell something was wrong though. Your not the most talkative person."

"In my defense I didn't feel like talking."

"I get that. But you also need to know that you don't know everything. He felt you needed a reminder as to why you came back here in the first place. To learn to be a team player."

He exhaled, putting his face into his hands. "I know. Old habits are hard to break."

She shrugged, "You're not wrong." They waited a few beats in silence before Kole began shifting on her feet. "I should get back. Jacob has me on a tight leash these days."

He nodded. "Gotcha. It's good to see ya Kole."

She smiled, looking away bashfully, "Y-You too." And with that she was gone.

Drake pulled himself up just as another visitor entered the training area. "You Alright?" Robin asked. Drake only nodded, letting Robin know that his scheme to contact Kole had worked. "well come on to the common room. I need to speak to everyone."

— _ **/0/—**_

Seated on the couch of the living room, Robin stood before his team, arms folded and back straight in full leader mode.

"Cyborg has finished going through the data from Val-Yor's ship, and after we both went through it, we would like to share it with you all now." He turned to Starfire on the far right hand of the couch. "If you can shed any light on what He's talking about, please let us know." She gave a curt nod, before he took a seat beside her.

"What about those things in his ship?" Drake asked.

Robin, Cyborg and Beast Boy each shared uneasy glances. "The DNA confirms that they were, at some point, human."

The room fell silent. "I've seen humans skinned alive, eviscerated, turned inside out, and even turn into zombies, but I have never seen anything do that."

"It appears to be some kind of alien virus that did that to them. One your powers were able to protect you from."

"Hold on," Rose leaned forward on her knees, "if they were human, does that mean Val-Yor stumbled on some kind of space, human, colony?"

"Good question. Unfortunately Val-Yor couldn't shed any light on it at all. Which is what we wanted to show you guys." Cyborg typed a few times on the controls of his forearm. "It took me a while to get to the good stuff, but this is from a few months ago." The window before them switched to a television screen. "Buckle up." He groaned and hit play.

Val-Yor's face filled the entirety of the screen, a smug grin plastered on his angular and rugged, scarred face. " _Captains log. Got a distress call from the planet Anodyne last week. Figured I'd get to it when I had time, and after cleaning out a wild pack of Volpimancers figured 'what the hey' probably nothing to big —_ "

"Ugh," Rose moaned, "He must weigh a tone he's so full of himself."

"No kidding," Cyborg rolled his eyes. "He then brags about himself for a while and it's . . . irritating so let's just skip all that." He fast forwarded the footage.

"I can't believe you guys thought he was cool."

Cyborg glared at his green teammate. "Yo, you were the one that was drooling over his every word."

"Well my circuits weren't frying when he offered for me to fly his ship!"

"You don't even have circuits!"

"Girls! Your both pretty!" Rose shouted, "can we move on now?" Cyborg grumbled, But did as suggested.

"Anodyne," Starfire spoke thoughtfully, "that is a planet not far from my own. They are a peaceful and nonviolent people."

Cyborg suddenly froze, "Oh, um, then this might be a bit upsetting for you." Hesitantly, he continued the feed.

Once again, Val-Yor's face appeared on the screen, but this time his arrogance seemed to waver to a degree into concern. " _Captions log. The planet Anodyne has been completely abandoned, or taken over, I'm not entirely sure. They are a pacifist people, I wouldn't be surprised if they just sat back and took it. But there is evidence that at least some of them had put up a fight."_ He held up a piece of scrap metal with an odd symbol stamped into the steel. It looked like two pointed towers wrapping around each other. " _I found this amongst the debris in what apparently was a battlefield. I've seen this symbol before on Titan, the moon orbiting Jupiter. I have no idea what it means, but I guess it's time I found out. I almost feel bad for ignoring the call —"_

"And he talks about himself for about ten minutes again." Cyborg said with a roll of his eyes.

Drake shifted in his seat. "So this whole time he's been talking about the moon, Titan?"

"It would seem that way," Robin, seated beside his girlfriend, gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "Do you know anything about Titan?"

Starfire was still absorbing the information Val-Yor provided. "I . . I had friends on that planet . ." Her eyes went wide and she gasped. "What if my people are next?! What if that was the message he was trying to get to me? What if my people have been taken to Titan?!"

"Hey, Hey, hey!" Robin brought her into his arms, bringing as close to his heart as he could. "It's okay. Your people are tough, I'm sure they're okay. But just to be sure," he released his hold enough for him to turn his attention to the rest of his team, "We're going to Titan tomorrow. Cyborg make sure the T-ship is ready to go, I'll clear it with the League. Their not to keen on us Titans as it is."

"Shouldn't we give this to them?" Drake wondered.

"Starfires people could be in trouble, and Val-Yor came to us, we have to do this ourselves." Robin looked around the others. "Let's get ready for tomorrow." Dismissed."

— _ **/0/—**_

". . . And tomorrow morning we're headed off into deep space."

A pale, black haired young woman stared back at Beast Boy from the screen of his laptop. With his story finished, her wide surprised blue eyes fell back to their original size. "Oh . . . Wow. Val-Yor again huh? I do not envy you for going into space."

He chuckled, "That's right, you never liked going into space, or the ocean for that matter."

"I don't mind traveling, just not a fan of being stuck out there, which has happened every time we've gone into space or under the sea."

This time Beast Boy laughed out loud. She wasn't wrong. "Remember that time we got stuck on that planet, and we found you getting pampered by those little egg things?"

Raven moaned in remembrance. Her eyes rolling into the back of her head as a smile crept across her lips, "The most wonderful time of my life. Ironic I died later that year when I became the portal."

He flashed a nervous smile, "How 'bout we don't use the D word."

She shrugged, "Sorry. Good plan."

He sighed looking over the strange girl looking back at him. He knew it was Raven, his girlfriend and love of his life, but it didn't look like her. "Hey Rae, do you think you'd be able to take the ring off?"

Raven checked her surroundings, making sure she was alone, and proceeded to remove her ring while Beast Boy hummed an erotic tune. "Garfield. The computer is in a public room here."

He laughed again, "Can you blame me? I haven't seen you in so long."

With the ring removed, and violet eyes staring back at him, she gave him an infamous "Raven eye roll". "It's only been a day."

"Hey for all I know you've already found a new man. And I know once you go green you never go back, but you never know."

Her eyes glimmered with mischief. "Well our next door neighbor has confessed his love for me already. And he's pretty cute too."

His heart sank and eyes went wide. "You-Your messing with me right?"

"Nope. He Gave me a flower from his front yard. I think we have a future together. Big blue eyes, missing front teeth, and we're babysitting him tomorrow night." It took him a moment before he realized what it was she was actually talking about, but once realization came to him she nodded. "Yes Gar, he's only five."

He heaved a sigh of relief that it almost knocked him off of his chair, "Oh Rae, don't do that to me!"

She flashed a smug smile, "Why not when it's so easy?"

They laughed together, actually laughed. God he missed her. Sure it was only a day, but when you've been together your whole teenage lives, you notice when the other is gone.

"So tell me more about your family."

They settled in for a long night of talking with each other, oblivious to the fact that Beast Boy would be embarking on a potentially dangerous mission the following morning.

For now, none of that mattered.

— _ **/0/—**_

The next morning was busy for the Titans team before they would take off for their deep space mission. While Cyborg was busy with making sure the T-ship was in working order, Drake was in the medical wing with Rose. Not really liking the idea of space travel, she volunteered to stay behind, which meant she was would be in charge of watching over his daughter for if, or when, she woke from her spell induced sleep. Beast Boy was catching up on his sleep from the night before, and Robin was getting everything squared away with the League and getting replacements for the city.

He set his communicator down and leaned back in his chair looking over at the Tameranean princess leaning against the window of his office.

"Are you okay Star?"

She let out a minute long sigh. "I do not know. I do not have the good feelings about this mission."

He stood up and joined her by the window, taking her hands in his own. "Yeah I know, I've been feeling on edge about this whole thing too. I mean Val-Yor coming out of nowhere, a message for you, it's all suspicious. But we'll deal with it the same way we always have."

She finally locked eyes with him, allowing a coy smile. "Together?"

He leaned in, his lips grazing hers. "Always." Their lips came together, enjoying the quiet moment that was rarely afforded the pair, until pounding sounded at the door.

"Rob! Terra and Donna from East are here." Cyborg announced.

They separated. "Just give me a few minutes Cy." He didn't wait for him to respond or noticed his footsteps echoing away and resumed his assault. They stumbled around his office until coming to his desk where Starfire, reaching behind her, cleared the surface before being thrown on top of it. She held the sides of his face, fingers fiddling with the edges of his mask, while his gloved hands moved along her model-like curves.

Oh how she wanted the X'hal damn gloves off.

She wrapped her strong legs around his waist, her fingers sneaking around to the back of his neck and tugged at clumps of his ink black hair.

Their lips and tongues battled for a good ten minutes before his communicator began to rang. With a groan he pulled away from her. "Probably Cy wondering where we are." He said breathlessly.

She whined, attempting the largest adorable cat face she could muster. "Just a few more minutes."

For once his "human brain" beat his "hero" brain.

— _ **/0/—**_

Rose and Drake poked and tapped at Beast Boy who had sprawled out on the couch. It took Cyborg half and hour for him to drag the green teen out of bed, but seemed like it didn't take.

Rose finally placed a hand over his mouth to check for breathing. "Sorry Drake he's still alive."

"Damn it. Maybe he needs mouth to mouth."

"Oh by all means. Consider it your payback for him wanting to pee on you."

Golden blonde hair stepped between them. "Guys, let me handle this." The East member, Terra, snuck up from behind the couch, wet her index finger, and inserted it into his pointed ear.

"DUDE!"

She stuck her tongue out. "That's what you get for staying up all night."

Hearing the screaming, Cyborg and Donna Troy quickly joined the laughing group. "Grass stain was up all night talking to his girlfriend."

Beast Boy threw a couch pillow at his best friend. "At least I have one." He muttered low enough that Cyborg hadn't heard.

"Awe BB misses his Rae Rae?" Terra tousled his leafy green hair before he swatted it away.

"I find it lovely that Beast Boy misses his significant other." Donna Troy smiled a pure white smile that made the Titan boy's melt. "Now where is Richard?"

On que the common room doors hissed open. "Here! Sorry guys. I was busy with the League." Robin, followed by Starfire, stumbled into a common room with all eyes planted on them.

"Is that so?" Cyborg smirked.

"Then why is your mask crooked?" Rose asked.

"And Starfire's hair a bit messy." Beast Boy grinned.

"And your belts a bit askew—"

"Okay! Anyways!" Robin, red faced, shouted. He tugged at the collar of his uniform, sparing a sideways glance at Starfire who was oddly jovial, not an ounce of shame or embaressment anywhere on her face, "Donna, Terra, you guys are gonna be staying behind with Rose until we get back."

"Lovely," Donna grinned, "May I speak with you in private?" Puzzled he let her take him by the arm and lead him to the far side of the common room.

"What's that about?" Cyborg wondered.

"I'm sure it's nothing." Terra said with a dismissive wave. "So what's up with this space mission of yours?"

While Cyborg explained the details Beast Boy trained his ears on Donna and Robin, careful to not look directly at them as they spoke in hushed tones.

" . . . when did the nightmares start?" He asked worriedly.

"About a week or two ago. He says he's fine, but that is far from the truth. Richard I'm worried about him."

"Why hasn't anything happened until now?"

She was quiet for a moment. "I don't know. Maybe his angelic abilities are wearing off."

Silence stretched between them. "Look, we have other things to worry about, but when I get back we'll talk about this okay?"

Beast boy cleared his throat, bringing his attention away as the two returned. "Everyone up to speed?" It took another hour for everyone to be clear on the logistics, but Robin promised they would be back in a day or so. With that he, Starfire, Cyborg, Drake and Beast Boy readied for their deep space adventure.

But nothing could prepare them for the horrors they are about to encounter.

 **Dun Dun Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuun**


	4. Titan

**I apologize for taking so long to get this chapter out. I've been doing a lot of research so that I can stay as true as I can to the source material while still trying to put my own spin on things.**

 **Big thanks to beta readers, adrinsanne in particular for helping with lore and mixing it all together. Sorry if this chapter seems a bit splotchy. Sci-fi isn't my area of expertise.**

 **PS. I think earlier I said Titan was one of Jupiter's moons, it's actually Saturn. Oops.**

 **Anyways. Read and review and all that fun stuff.**

 **On with the show.**

 **Chapter 4: Titan**

"I spy with my little eye something that —"

"Stars!"

Starfire gasped, "You must all be the readers of minds to know what friend Beast Boy was going to say."

Robin smiled playfully, "Well when he picks the same thing five times," he began, "it's safe to say he'll repeat the pattern."

"Plus, BB ain't that creative. There's nothing out here." Cyborg waved a hand motioning to the void that surrounded them, "I'm more curious to know what our Dragon boy thinks of His new surroundings."

The "Dragon boy" in question shrugged. "It's better than the ocean that's for sure."

Beast Boy felt a mixture of offense and intrigue at his statement. "Dude, you got a problem with the ocean?"

Drake continued staring off into space ( _literally_ ) taking in the new experience. "Nope. Just what lives down there. Megalodon, the Kraken, Hell even whales," he shuddered, "Something bigger than you that can come out of the darkness? Yeah no thanks."

"Drake is correct." Starfire chirped, "Earth's oceans hide more than the vastness of space." She placed her finger onto her chin, "Although I shouldn't tell you of the Gangi'el."

The color suddenly drained from his face, "The What?"

"Hey Rob," Beast Boy interrupted, "What were you chatting with Donna about back at the tower?"

Robin, being in the front most pod, glanced over his shoulder at his teammate in the pod behind him. Upset that his conversation was overheard. He faced forward. "All you need to know is that Aqualad has been struggling lately."

Silence settled over the pods as his team thought over his words in particular Beast Boy, having a least a clue as to what Aqualad may be struggling with. "So it's just Bee and Aqualad in Steele City."

"No, Kaldur'ahm is there too."

The others passed questioning looks to one another. "Aqualad number two?" Said Cyborg, "What's he doing there?"

Starfire suddenly erupted into giggles. "Friend Bumble Bee and I have had much of the girl talk about Kaldur'ahm. She is sugary on him."

Cyborg huffed, "I think you mean 'sweet on him'?"

Beast Boys eyebrows waggled, "Is that jealousy I hear? I thought you two were on good terms?"

Cyborg snorted, "We are . . ."

"Anyways," Drake breathed, "how are we getting around so fast? Shouldn't it take like a hundred years to get to Saturn?"

Forgetting his temporary jealousy for a moment. "Maybe for the average spaceship," Cyborg puffed out his chest rubbing his hands along the cockpit of his pod, "But this is state of the art Cyborg tech, fresh out of S.T.A.R. labs. One of my babies." Then he planted a large wet smooch onto the dashboard.

"Would you like some privacy, Cy?" The Titans began snickering at Beast Boys joke, even Cyborg.

"Don't listen to 'em baby," He cooed, "they don't understand what we have."

"So back to my original point," Drake said between giggles, "how long before we reach Titan?"

"Not much longer. We'll be there within the hour at least." Said Robin, "I just wish we had some idea as to what we're getting into."

"To bad the three words Val-Yor gave us weren't more helpful." Cyborg grumbled with a roll of his eyes. Everyone moaned in agreement when something coming from the far right wing pod began beeping. Unfortunately the pod belonged to the least tech savvy of the Titans.

"Cyborg what'd I touch?!" Drake shouted.

"Hold on. Ah man, I knew I shoulda rerouted all of that pods functions to mine. Your eyes friggin glazed over when I was explaining everything to you."

"Well you lost me after 'this is the red candy cane thingamahoosit'."

"Awe Cy, you kept my name!"

"Shut up BB, I need to figure out what the hell —"

"Cyborg, is that the reason for the beeping?"

His eyes flitted to Starfire, and then to the front of the T-ship were she was pointing. Pointing to a large spacecraft hovering in front of them.

"How the hell did we miss that?" Drake wondered. In response to his question, two more ships materialized out of thin air, apparently using some form of cloaking.

"Everybody relax," Robin urged, "Starfire, do these look familiar to you? Friendly perhaps?" His answer came in the form of two large cannons emerging from the side of the ship and aimed at them.

Starfire examined the crafts, looking past the cannons. Large, arrow headed in shape, but no distinguishing colors or markings. "They do not. I have not seen them before. But considering I was mostly around slave ships, perhaps that is a good thing."

"How is that a good thing?" Beast Boy gulped at the look of the cannons.

"It means they're not slave ships," Drake responded.

The radio in the T-Ship began to crackle just before a voice began to speak to them. " _Unidentified spacecraft, please state your name and business. You are entering prohibited airspace."_

The Titans all instinctively looked to Robin who was glancing at Starfire. "If we're not sure who they are, maybe the best course of action is to let them know we have a member of the royal Tameranean family with us."

Everyone nodded in agreement giving Cyborg the okay to turn the speaker functions of the ship to Starfire's pod. She flipped a switch, igniting the P.A. System of her pod. " **This is Koriand'r of Tameran** ," she said in her native tongue, " **daughter of Myand'r and Luand'r of the Royal Family. Myself and my . . Royal guard are responding to a distress call from the moon Titan orbiting Saturn. Perhaps you are able to assist us."**

There was static on the line for about three minutes before someone spoke again. This time in Tameranean. " _We are not familiar with any distress call, but those bastards on Titan don't tell us anything."_

Starfire looked to her team for suggestions on what to say next. Robin was all ready with a piece of paper against the canopy of his pod. " **Perhaps you may escort us and we may get this cleared up?"**

Once again silence for a few minutes. " _Copy that. We will escort you to the base."_ The cannons vanished from the sides of the ships before floating into formation around the T-Ship.

"Okay?" Cyborg questioned, "Is this weird to anyone else?"

Robin hadn't taken his eyes off the ships as they started moving. "It's all strange, but for now let's keep quiet just in case they might still be listening. But stay sharp." It took about another hour of tension filled flying before the planet Saturn came into view, and another hour to arrive at its largest moon, Titan.

Drake, having never left the earth before, looked on in wonder at the enormity of the planet and it's many rings. "Not gonna lie, this is pretty cool."

Robin chuckled, "Welcome to space Dragon Boy."

Beast Boy tapped on his chin, "Maybe that can be your superhero name."

Drake shot him a vicious glare. "How about not."

"Guys," Cyborg called, "Look alive." The space station atop the moon quickly came into view, while dwarfed by the planet behind it, still held a majesty of its own. Large and dome shaped, the ships slowly lowered themselves into the open hanger where other ships were coming and going. "I wonder what's going on here?"

"We should make sure to ask." Robin was clearly still on edge, his back rigid and hands tight, like a coil ready to spring at any second. And his team was just as anxious as he was.

The ships that had escorted them remained hovering over the entrance of the hanger, but were able to give directions for the T-Ship to dock below. Finding an open spot, Cyborg lowered the T-Ship, just as Robin began to divvy out the orders.

"Okay Titans, we don't know what we're getting into here, so follow my lead. Starfire you'll take point on this." She responded with a curt nod, quickly switching over into her "royal dignitary" mode. "Any questions?" Beast Boy raised his hand, "Does this have anything to do with bodily functions like going to the bathroom?" He set his hand down.

The ship landed just as the entrance to hanger shut above them shutting the air locking system. Once and all clear was given, a large barrel chested man in an olive green coat with his arms behind his back stepped onto the platform in front of the ship. His thick brow lowered over his blue eyes in a menacing glare as he waited for the Titans to exit their ship.

"Who the heck is that guy?" Beast Boy asked.

"Judging by the numerous patches and metal pinned all over his jacket," Cyborg noticed, "I would say a general of some kind."

"And the welcoming party. So smiles everyone." said Drake in a low drone reminiscent of their missing teammate.

The Titans one by one exited their pods, but made sure to fall in line behind Starfire as she approached the surly looking man.

He raised a bushy white brow at the beaming Tamaranean before him. "Princess Koriand'r I assume." His voice was low and hoarse from years and screaming at his subordinates no doubt.

Starfire bowed her head. "Correct. And this is my royal guard."

He scanned the other Titans and snorted blowing against the hairs of his white mustache. "So your "Royal guard" are the Teen Titans?"

Starfire went rigid, but maintained a cheerful attitude with a smile. "Apologies, but I do not understand."

His eyes narrowed again. "I've been on this rig for the last eight months and before that was about part of a military division specializing in alien incidents. I've met first hand with men like Superman, the Green Lantern Corp, etc. I'm well aware of who the Teen Titans are." He eyed the Titans one by one. "Robin, Batman's Ward, Victor Stone, and Beast Boy." He stopped at Drake. "Don't know you. And where's the witch?"

Drake's impressive reflexes were holding back the angered Beast Boy in half a second to keep him from ripping the unassuming general into pieces.

"Exchange program." Drake smirked as a clear sign of a challenge.

The two held each other's state for a moment or two before he turned away from Drake and back to Starfire. "I'm general Zachary Hammond, and I'm sorry you had to waste a tank of engine fuel coming out here, but I have to ask you to leave."

Starfire appeared confused, "But We traveled —"

"I understand. We've already had an inspection by the Green Lantern Corp and everything checked out. Don't believe me? Ask them yourselves."

"— I don't think you understand." Robin stepped in front of Starfire, "we received a message —"

"I don't care!" Zachary bellowed, "You need to leave this station immediately!"

The doors leading out of the hanger hissed open, drawing the attention of the Titans, but for some reason caused the general to exhale in defeat. Ignoring the general completely, three individuals in white lab coats approached the Titans. The one in the center, a woman with darkened skin and a smile, extended her hand to Starfire with a bow.

"You'll have to excuse the general. I'm Dr. Callahan." Starfire accepted her hand, "It's an honor to meet you princess."

"What are you doing here Callahan? Eggheads aren't allowed in the hanger unless specified by me."

Callahan glanced over her shoulder, barely acknowledging the general. "Dr. Edgar heard the transmission about one of the royal members of the Tameranean family being on his space station. He felt it necessary to give her a proper welcome."

"She's a member of the Teen Titans —"

Callahan ignored him completely as the others with her worked to shove him out of the way. "Dr. Foster Edgar is the head of this station and would love to meet all of you in his office. Would you come with me please?" She motioned to the doors where they had appeared from a few moments before.

Starfire smiled, "Of course." They followed behind the three scientists, but Robin took a moment to glance over his shoulder at the general who clearly may have just tried to save their lives.

— _ **/0/—**_

The Titans weren't entirely sure what to expect walking into the space station, but they sure as hell weren't expecting this.

A mixture of both alien and human races living together in an enormous cityscape one might find on earth, complete with shops, apartment buildings, individuals riding by on bikes, mothers walking with children and pets, even a Burger King.

"Uh?" Was the collective thoughts, but only Beast Boy vocalized them.

"Not what you were expecting?" Callahan smirked.

"What is this?" Robin asked as a family walked by waving happily.

"What we do." Callahan stated simply, "This is the Sprawl, an organization that is dedicated to finding a suitable and habitable planet for the human race. Along the way we've picked up other alien races who may have been suffering from a dying planet, lack of resources, etc. Here they integrate into our society into a peaceful utopia."

Drake snorted, "Peaceful huh?" He had been eying the obvious military presence. Men and women in the same green uniform general Hammond sported, each carrying a large automatic weapon, among other things.

"Our military is for protection purposes only," Callahan clarified, "We don't know what's in the vastness of space after all."

"Is it safe to assume the military are in charge?" Asked Robin who also took noticed of the heavily armed men and women.

Callahan picked up the pace, seemingly impatient with the constant question. "Our team of scientists run the Sprawl. As I said the military is only here for protection." She kept her head forward, her body language suggesting she was done taking questions.

Out of the crowds, a shrill scream got everyone's attention. Not a scream of pain, but of recognition. Starfire faced in the direction of an individual with glowing bright pink skin, sharp green eyes and swirling tendrils for hair heading towards her. Starfire in turn smiled widely and greeted them with a large hug before speaking to each other in their native languages, halting the group from continuing.

Her teammates stood back watching the interaction, but decided to leave her to her Friend as they spoke amongst themselves. "Everything seems to check out?" Cyborg had been monitoring the comings and goings of the people and aliens that had been walking by. "Sensors aren't picking up anything to nasty. Yet."

Robin looked to Drake and Beast Boy. "What about you two?"

Both of them were clearly on edge, eyes darting in every which way. "My spidey senses are definitely tingling." Beast Boy muttered.

Drake motioned to the changeling, "What he said, but less gross."

Robin brought his fingers to his chin in thought. "Yeah me too."

Starfire finished conversing with her friend and joined her team, her hands clasped together in happiness. "Oh friends! That was Ariel from Anodyne, and she was telling me that this place had saved them."

"That's right," the smile was back on Callahan's face. "Their poor planet was ravaged by war and lack of resources, so we brought them here."

Starfire beamed with happiness. "Oh joy! I thank you for saving my friends!"

"Why of course. Now if you don't mind." She gestured for the Titans to follow her towards the center of the station, specifically towards what appeared to be an equivalent of an earth office district.

They weaved through the buildings and pedestrians making their way to the center most office building, all the while they would ask questions to which Callahan would give short answers. Again it was clear that she wasn't much for talking unless it was to give instructions. The building they entered was clearly just as busy as the outside, filled with a different assortment of alien and human beings going every which way like bees in a beehive.

"Dr. Edgar is on the first floor." Callahan led them to an elevator that showed eight buttons for the eight floors. With the elevator ascending it was obvious, from the now silent Callahan and her associates, that they would have to wait for answers.

The elevator car dinged, opening the doors directly into a large office decorated with maps of the known galaxy, different spheres of different planets, a large oak desk and a window overlooking the city. There in the center was a grey haired man, busily looking over some paperwork and maps. He glanced over the rim of his glasses and smiled.

"First the Green Lantern Corp, now the Teen Titans. It must be my birthday." He lowered his glasses over his beak-like nose and stood up from his desk. It wasn't just his nose, but high cheekbones and sharp chin gave him a very bird-like appearance. "Come in." He waved the Titans into his office and with another wave of his hand, dismissed Callahan and the others.

The Titans entered the office as the doors to the elevator shut. Starfire taking the lead with Robin a couple feet behind her.

She gave a small bow. "Thank you for agreeing to see us Dr—"

He held up his hand. "Please no 'Doctor', Just Foster is fine. And it is no trouble at all." He gestured to a nearby desk with empty glasses and a few pictures of water. "May I offer you anything?"

Beast Boy raised his hand, but Starfire cut him off. "We are fine thank you."

Foster shrugged before taking a seat. "Alright then. What can I do for Earth's youngest heroes?"

Starfire elegantly placed herself into a chair on the other side of his desk. "I shall get to the chase. A Vernathian named Val-Yor crash landed not far from our home back on Earth, and relayed a message to us that led us here. It consisted of three words. Marker, Titan, and Troq."

Only those that knew her could see how the use of the word affected her. Otherwise she was still poised and dignified in speech and movement.

Fosters face fell into a look of pity. "Ah Val-Yor. Yes he came to us searching for the Anodyne people, but even after we had showed him that all was well he was still unconvinced. Ended up making all kinds of unnecessary trouble for me so we had to forcibly remove him from this station."

Robin, who had been standing behind Starfire, folded his arms. "So you don't know what the words mean? Or how he became a vegetable between here and earth?"

Foster seemed confused by his questions, but finally shrugged. "Sorry, but I don't. Though I understand his people have a prejudice against your own," he nodded at Starfire. "Shame really. The Tameranean's we've met have been quite lovely, present company included." He winked, eliciting a blush and giggle from the Tameranean princess. "May I ask what it was exactly that led you all the way here?"

"Examining the wreckage of his ship eventually showed us that this was his last stop." Cyborg explained, "And like Robin said. With an unclear message we Came this way hoping someone could shed some light."

Foster nodded in understanding. "Well I apologize for not being more helpful. Is there anything else I can do for you."

"Oh yes," Starfire beamed, "If We May acquire some accommodations and fuel for our ship before we head back home. We will leave probably in the morning if that is the Alright with you?"

Foster nodded. "I would be delighted to have you here as my honored guests."

"Thank you. It is very much the appreciated."

However unbeknownst to Foster, not a single member of the Titans believed a word he said, but instead of wasting time with questions, a plan was already in the works.

— _ **/0/—**_

General Hammond poured himself another drink, and like the other eight before it, drank the hard liquor as if it was water in the middle of the Sahara desert. With the glass empty he went for the bottle again, but this time, forgot about the glass entirely.

Maybe if he kept drinking he could drown his guilt away.

Taking a reprieve from the alcohol, his attention was brought to the door of his office, specifically the sounds of a struggle on the other side. The two men standing guard were given specific orders from the higher ups. Hammond would be confined to quarters as long as the Teen Titans were at the station. He chuckled to himself, finding it hilarious that they thought two highly trained military officials would be able to stand up against super powered kids. Just as he figured, two of the Titans strolled into his office, the men standing guard out cold on the floor.

Slowly his eyes went from the green Titan to the one with the necklace. "Was Swondering when you'd show up." He slurred, "Where the other three?"

The green one seemed to struggle to keep his mouth shut while the other had no issue. "Working on hacking the mainframe of your computer network. Whatever the hell that means."

The green one slapped his shoulder, "Dude you can't tell the bad guy our plan!"

He ignored the slap, his eyes instead flitting between the general and the bottle in his hand. "I'm guessing the good general here doesn't seem to care in the slightest."

Hammond belted out a laugh. "Brains and looks on this one. Lemme guess. Foster give you the runaround?"

Beast Boy gaped at the general. "Wait. You knew he would lie to us?"

"How 'bout we skip the stupid questions, and get to what you really wanna know." Hammond leaned back in his chair, periodically taking swigs of his bottle.

"Val-Yor," Drake began, "Big guy, full of himself. He was here wasn't he?"

Hammond let out a long exhale, his face falling into a low and sad frown. "Poor dumb son of a bitch. He came here looking for the Anodites. He found them alright, what was left of them."

"What happened to them? The Anodites?" Drake asked.

Sadness shifted to horror on the generals face. He leaned his head back and began talking to the ceiling. "Dear god. Those poor . . . " he took Another long swig of his booze, before pointing at Drake. "You. You've seen some shit. I can see it in your eyes. But trust me. You haven't seen anything. ANYTHING, like what we found on that planet."

The general now had their full attention. Beast Boy balled his firsts and pounded on the generals desk. "Dude. What happened to Val-Yor? What did you do to him?"

Hammond laughed. "I didn't do anything. Didn't have to. When Foster caught him snooping around they took him to the lower levels, the city beneath the Sprawl."

"There's a city under this one?" Drake asked.

Hammond nodded sloppily. "Old, before my time. Never let me down their though."

Beast Boy pressed his fist harder into the desk until they could hear the splintering of wood. "You didn't think it was weird that there was a whole 'nother place here that you weren't allowed?"

"Of course it was weird!" Hammond suddenly barked. "But you follow orders, like a good soldier!" He consumed the rest of his bottle before letting it fall to the ground with an empty thunk. "Damn it." He opened one of his drawers and began searching for another.

"Val-Yor said three words," Drake continued, "Troq, Titan and Marker. Troq and Titan we figured out, but what's 'Marker'?"

Hammond stopped all movement, his eyes slowly growing to the size of saucers. "Oh Christ," he gasped under his breath before he began muttering incoherently. "That . . . . Thing . . . I snuck in once . . . I'm only safe up here . . . can't go down there . . . The things I saw . . . Can't go down . . . Won't go down." Finally he pulled out a bottle, much smaller than the one before, and slammed it onto the table. "Tried to stop you. Tried to make you leave."

Drake and Beast Boy stood beside each other, both getting into defensive positions as the general became increasingly more erratic. His mutterings slowly gave way to sobs of sorrow. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean too . . Just following orders . . ." He looked up at the Titans with tear filled eyes, "Please tell them I'm sorry." He opened the bottle and drank.

It all happened so fast. As soon as the cap was unscrewed the two animorphs knew it wasn't liquor he was drinking, but by the time they went to his aid it was too late. The hydrochloric acid slowly ate away at his insides until his convulsions of pain faded into stillness.

They stared in horror at what they had just witnessed. Beast Boy in particular moved his mouth up and down without words. "What . . what was that?" Beast Boy shuddered.

Drake was already inspecting the bottle, now empty. "Dunno, but Robin and Star were right to be suspicious of Foster. I just hope they had better luck then we did."

They stood over the General just as the cocking Of aromatic weapons sounded from the doorway.

"What did you do to the general?" One of the two officers asked weapons aimed at the Titans.

 **This is just the beginning of a real shit storm . . . .**


	5. Edge of Reality

**So the teasing is finally gonna pay off in the upcoming chapters, but shit is really about to go down! I'm so excited for the next chapters and I hope you are too!**

 **On with the show!**

 **Chapter 5: Edge of reality**

Drake and Beast Boy held up their hands, but weren't to keen on surrendering. "This isn't what it looks like fellas." Drake urged, but the men only snickered.

"Well we were ordered to make sure no one bothers the general, and it looks like you knocked us out cold and the next thing we know, he's dead."

Beast Boy leaned over to his teammate. "Well he's right about that," Beast Boy muttered.

Drake snapped back, "You're not helping."

"Dude if you'd listen to me and gone with my plan we wouldn't be in this mess."

"It wouldn't have stopped the general from killing himself. Besides your plan was to tell them there were free donuts in the kitchen."

"Well everyone loves donuts. They would have left and we'd be in the clear."

One of the men cocked his weapon to get their attention. "Are you two like . . together or something? You sound like an old married couple?"

Beast Boy's mouth fell to the floor, "NO! Not that there's anything wrong with that, but DUDE I have a girlfriend!"

Drake inches closer to the Changeling's pointed ear, "Now sweetie. There's no need to be ashamed."

The two men began snickering to each other, but it was just this temporary lapse in judgement that gave Drake and Beast Boy the chance to counter attack. As an armadillo, Beast Boy launched himself at one of the men, hitting him square in the gut. Feeling the cracking of ribs and the oxygen leaving his body, he bounced away, shifted into a kangaroo, and kicked him in the side of the head. Once again, rendering him unconscious.

Drake ran for the other one, bobbing and weaving as he fire shot after shot at the Dragon Knight. With his forearm, he moved the gun away and it's his left fist, threw a punch into his face. With him dazed, Drake grabbed him by the collar and threw him over his shoulder sending him sailing into the back wall of the office.

"Let's go!" The two Titans shuffled from the office and slammed the door behind them. For added measure Drake superheated the doorknob, melting it into unnatural shapes to prevent them from getting out.

"Well that was fun. Come on let's meet the others."

Beast Boy followed behind him, "Sounds like a plan, but what now? It's not like he gave us anything useful?"

"On the contrary," Drake led them down the hall before rounding a corner heading for the elevator. "He told us of another city under this one. I'm sure by now Robin and the other learned the same thing. With Cyborg being all computery and stuff."

"I guess," the two stepped into the elevator looking at the buttons on the side of the car. "Now how exactly do we get there?"

"Well I wasn't expecting a 'underground' button in the elevator." The doors slid shut. "Well have to just rendezvous with the others and see what they —" They both froze, each taking a sniff of the air in the confined elevator car. An elevator filling up with gas.

"Crap!" Beast Boy shifted into a tiger and began clawing at the steel doors.

Drake stood back, attempting to tap into the magic that would change him, but was quickly losing his ability to focus. Their enhanced senses making them more susceptible to the gas.

Drake fell to his hands and knees, coughing and hacking as his lungs filled with unnatural air. Beast Boy slowed his movements before shifting back into his human form.

"Duuuuuuuude . . . I'm sleeeeeeeeeepy." He fell on top of Drake pushing them both to the floor.

"I don't want you . . . . Passing out on . . . . Top of me." Drake growled.

"Shhhhhhh," Beast Boy slapped at his face in an attempt to shush him, "It's sleeeeeeeeepy time." Drake muttered a final "ugh" before completely surrendering to unconsciousness.

— **/0/—**

"Stop now or we will be forced to open fi—"

Starfire let out a guttural snarl as she flew at top speeds towards the soldiers that stood between her and the main computer room. Her fists and eyes glowed a savage forest green and through her clenched teeth, her battle cry roared. Robin and Cyborg stood back, apparent that they were not needed.

The halls of the office building lit up like Christmas with flashes of green as Starfire blasted the soldiers with her Starbolts, one by one until the way was clear.

With her foes now unconscious at her feet, she struggled to regain her breath. Her shoulders rising and falling as she struggled for oxygen, the exertion clearly taking a toll on her. All the while she ignored the tears falling down her cheeks.

She moved to strike again when she felt hands on her shoulders, but thankfully Robin's reflexes were faster. He held her wrists, for only a moment or two, while she seethed with anger, but he didn't attempt to calm her down. He just held on, and wasn't until her shoulders began to loosen did he venture to speak.

"Star, I know you angry—"

"—do you Robin?" She pulled her wrists out of his grip with ease. "These men lied to us. Anodyne would never be destroyed by war, they are a peaceful race who know nothing of combat or conflict. They said they were in hungered. Also a lie. They were like Beast Boy, not partaking in meat, but eating what the land offered them. They would never want. So what happened to my friends? Can you tell me that Robin?"

His breathing was even and his body calm, but even behind the mask the answer was clear.

Cyborg stepped beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "We will find out. I promise."

They entered the control room, currently occupied by one man. He got to his feet. "You shouldn't be—"

A single Starbolt and he was out cold.

"Starfire!" Robin screamed at his girlfriend, but she Cooley took the man and set him down against the wall, placing him out of the way.

"He is only stunned. There will be no lasting damage." She stated calmly.

Robin grit his teeth, looking to Cyborg for assistance, but he was already working at hacking the computer system. He took a few breaths to calm himself. "Starfire, are you alright?"

She huffed, her eyes sparking with energy. "I am not. I am angry. If they lied to us of Anodyne, what other secrets are they hiding. You saw the multitude of aliens and humans together. Something is very much in the wrong."

"Your not wrong Star," Cyborg muttered, "Something is definitely off. This computer system is super basic. I cracked it in no time."

Robin took a moment to look over the computer system. "Not a lot of trouble for a system you have to manually get into?"

"There's another system." Cyborg continued. "A separate one from this one and the main one I hacked wirelessly earlier. But it's in some kind of enormous structure underneath us." Through his robotic eye he was able to see a map of an entire underground network below the city. "My money's on those computers having everything we need to know."

"Then we must make with the haste." Starfire almost growled, "I am through with the lies."

Cyborg disconnected himself from the server. "I'm with Star."

"Me too," Robin agreed. "Cyborg, Fine Drake and Beast Boy and lets get to the lower levels."

Cyborg nodded then looked down at his forearm. "Huh. Their already down their. They must of found out what we did."

Robin frowned, something in the pit of his stomach not sitting right with him. _Oh well add it to the list._ "Alright. Call them and will meet with them."

Cyborg did as instructed. "Cyborg to BB? . . ." Static. "BB?" Nothing. "Cyborg to Drake?" Still nothing.

"That is not the good." Starfire whined.

Robins scowl deepened. "No. We need to go now."

— **/0/—**

Beast Boy began coughing and hacking once his sensitive nose alerted him to a foul stench in the air. Obviously he was no longer in the comfortable halls of the office building of the Sprawl. He got to his hands and knees continuing to cough and gag as more clarity came over him. His eyes adjusted, as well as they could in the darkness, thank goodness for his ability to see in the dark. It appeared as if he was still in the city, having been dropped in the middle of the street somewhere, but this was drastically different. The buildings were decrepit and old, covered in rust, dirt and mold with the windows completely void of glass. The roads were cracked and broken covered with more of the same moldy, alien plants that seemed to ingulf the stone and metal.

His nose was still burning, but he ventured another sniff.

"Ugh, man." He coughed again smelling decay and dirt with just a hint of blood and death. "Good times." He got to his feet. "Okay. I guess we start walking." He spun around three hundred and sixty degrees, looking for some kind of point to at least start walking towards. To his left he could barely make out what appeared to be an elevator shaft, maybe the one he was in before being here?

Which reminded him.

"DRAKE!" His voice bounced off the buildings, carrying it all throughout the barren landscape. "Come on, he had to have heard that. DRAKE!" Once again his voice reached all around him, but he got nothing in return other then the sound of his own voice.

His ear suddenly twitched.

"Hello!" He spun around now facing an alleyway between two small buildings. "Who's there? Drake?" No response. Just the shuffling of metal and pebbles along with chittering noises coming towards him.

"Okay I'm warning you!" He got into a fighter's stance, "I know ka-razy!" The soft shuffling and chittering sounds slowly became footsteps, advancing on him faster. He gulped, his throat as dry as cotton. "Okay, that's far enough." There was no way his cracking, wavering voice was scaring anyone off today. "I'm . . warning you . ."

From the darkness of the allway he could just make out the shape of a person. A very curvy person?

He knew those curves, recognized the slight sway in those hips as they walked.

No. It wasn't possible.

She, whoever she was, stepped into what little light the underground city provided and his heart sank.

"Gar What are you doing?" Raven asked, "we're late."

His mouth stopped working. She shouldn't be here, and definitely not dressed like THAT. She moved effortlessly through the debris of the streets in a midnight blue, long sleeved, cocktail mini dress wearing a matching pair of flats. She was absolutely stunning, even if she was still wearing the holo ring that turned her grey features pale and fair, and her violet locks black. But this was his Raven.

He took a step back when she came within arms reach. She rolled her eyes in typical Raven fashion. "Gar knock it off. We're gonna be late."

He slowly shook his head. "Y-Your not here." He breathed.

This time she looked at him concern. "Are you okay Gar? You look like you've seen a ghost?"

Was it the gas? Is it making me see her? It wasn't the fact that he was seeing her, but that his animal instincts weren't warning him. If this was a dream, or a ghost, hallucination or anything, he'd know it.

But there was nothing.

Becoming concerned she approached carefully, like a delicate animal. "Hey, Gar. It's okay." She reached up and touched his arm. Physically touched his arm. "Just relax. I know this is a bit stressful, but you promised you'd come. This is important to me."

Her touch. Her scent. Her smile. It was real . . . it had to be. "Uh . . . okay."

She chuckled, shaking her head and took him by the hand. "Come on salad head." She led him behind the building, his senses quickly becoming dulled to what was happening around him. The streets became the hallways of a house filled with photographs of a happy family, Ravens family.

She led him to the end of the hall before turning around to face him. "Alright let's just make sure you look somewhat presentable."

Unsure of what she meant he allowed her to go about tucking in his clothes, brushing off his pants and unbuttoning the top button of his collared shirt.

Wait. When did he change clothes?

"Perfect? You ready?"

Confused, and frightened, he allowed her to lead him into a large living room area filled with people milling, conversing and drinking happily with each other, but then all eyes were on them as soon as they entered.

"Raven! Gar!" Her aunt Alice emerged from the crowd to give a warm hug to the pair.

"Sorry Alice, someone made us late." Raven playfully slapped Beast Boy on the shoulder.

Alice shook her head, "Come on you two I wanna introduce you to some people."

Beast Boy was still confused as to what was happening around him, yet he wasn't afraid. Normally in hallucinogenic situations like this at least his animal instincts would warn him of trouble, but not in this case. He was at ease. He was comfortable. He was . . . happy. With his arm around his girlfriend's waist they moved about the crowd of people, without a care in the world.

— **/0/—**

Drake stumbled, grabbing blindly onto a railing that led him down a Metal ramp.

He coughed. "Beast . . . Boy!" No response.

He woke up a few minutes ago finding himself in some sort of laboratory. To his left was the lab behind a large glass window, and he seemed to be lying on some viewing deck. It reminded him of on attraction you'd find at an aquarium where onlookers would watch what was happening on the other side of the glass.

The question. What would they watch?

He pushed himself away from the wall, fumbling about until he was at the glass. The once white colored lab was now stained brown from dust and decay along with solid red puddles and streaks of red along the tiled walls.

"Wonderful." Luckily none of the equipment looked used, so Beast Boy probably wasn't inside. Still it wouldn't hurt to look. The effects of the gas were still wearing heavily on his body making it difficult to tap into his incredible strength, forcing him to get creative. He picked up a discarded lead pipe by his feet and smashed the window into pieces. After stepping into the lab he looked over the pipe and noticed that it was caked with blood.

"Yummy." Looking around the lab it was clear to him that a battle had once taken place, and if the blood was any evidence, there wasn't a lot of survivors. He used the pipe to prop himself up as he inspected the laboratory, all the while looking for Beast Boy.

"Cabbage patch? You in here?" None of this made sense. Why not just kill them? Why go through the trouble of putting them in . . wherever the hell they were? Unless they'd be killed later. His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed a desk along the left hand wall behind a discarded medical cart. He kicked the cart aside, feeling some of his strength returning, and scanned the papers atop the desk.

Most of it was caked with blood and ripped to shreds making it unreadable, but there were a few notes that caught his attention. He collected a few sheets of papers that had a variety of different doodles with notes attached. Each of the doodles looking like the monsters from Val-Yors ship back on earth. He collected a nearby chair, took a seat at the desk and started reading through what he could. He chuckled to himself. This was just like as a kid when he studied different species of monsters. Of course back then the weirdest thing he had ever heard of was a Wendigo.

Looking st the sheets he noticed that, much like any other species, there was a variety of different kinds, but they were all categorized under one name.

"Necromorph? What the hell is a necromorph?" He continued reading.

" _Necromorphs are mutated and reanimated_ _corpses_ _, reshaped into new forms by a . . . . extraterrestrial_ _infection_ _. The resulting . . . . are extremely aggressive and will attack any uninfected organism on sight . ."_

" . . So there zombie's basically. Wonderful. How do we kill it?

" . . _the sole purpose of almost all Necromorphs is to_ _acquire more bodies_ _to convert and spread the_ _infection_ _. They are believed by . . . . heralds of_ _humanity's ascension,_ _but on a more practical level are the extremely dangerous result of exposure to the enigmatic devices known as the_ _Markers_ _."_

He raised a brow. "Marker?"

" _. . . Necromorphs began with Markers . . . . re-broadcast a highly concentrated electromagnetic signal that alters dead tissue in range . . . . cellular level, converting it into Necromorph tissue and re-animating the corpse of the host organism . . ."_

"So this Marker creates monsters? Why? Why would —" Reading ahead, the next few words made his heart stop.

" _. . . This signal also affects the minds of intelligent life forms, usually manifesting as dementia and resulting in homicidal and suicidal actions, laying out a rich field of fodder for the Necromorph infection . . ."_

Something fell behind him, resulting in a metallic clang. He got to his feet, knocking the chair back as he placed as many of the notes and papers as he could into his coat. The clanging continued.

"Beast Boy?" With the pipe in one hand, he drew the angel dagger with the other. "Is that you?"

His question was answered with the giggles of a child.

He snorted then began talking to the air. "A giggling kid? I think I saw that in a horror movie the other day. Is that the best you got?" The giggling continued followed by the scuffling of tiny feet. His eyes darted around the lab trying to be aware of any Necromorph monsters. "Where are you?"

The giggling continued leading him in the direction of one of the nurses stations with the curtain drawn. If he strained his eyes enough, he could make out little feet trying to hide behind the curtain.

He exhaled, "I guess we're doing this." He raised his weapons and walked carefully to the curtain, his senses still attuned to what was happening around him. He approached the curtain, the giggles on the other side getting louder. Using the pipe he moved the curtain aside, getting the blade in his other hand ready.

A tiny person jumped from their hiding spot. "BOO! You found me daddy!"

He dropped the pipe, and came close to dropping the dagger, and in an excited voice shouted, "Now it's your turn!" She covered her eyes, spun around and began counting.

He lost all feeling in his legs, and forgot how to breathe. This little girl in front of him could have been no older than five, maybe six. She wore a small blue dress and her chocolate brown hair was braided in a long braid that reminded him so much of a woman he loved so long ago.

"Twenty! Ready or not here I come!" She turned around but the excitement in her hazel eyes vanished into annoyance. She folded her arms and stuck her lip out. "Daddy your supposed to hide!"

Finding the feeling back in his legs he took a few steps back, then he remembered what he read in the notes. "N-No, your not real." He could barely find the oxygen to formulate words, and even then it was barely above a whisper.

She tilted her head, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. With her fingers she pinched her pale skinned arm. "Owie. But I am real daddy." She took a step toward him, but like a frightened animal he leapt back.

"Your . . not . . real . ." The little girl in front of him gasped when he jumped back, her large eyes suddenly beginning to brim with tears.

Another voice sounded from behind him. A voice that, once again, made his heart stop. "Jacqueline honey, go easy on your father. He's been under a lot of stress."

 _Oh god. No. Not her._

He felt a pair of slim cool hands snake around his shoulders. "Drake, we talked about this. You need to spend some time with your daughter."

He slammed his eyes shut, shook the arms off and fell to his knees. "Your. Not. Real!" He grabbed the pipe and jammed it into his leg. Much like a dream, the best way to wake up from a hallucination is a kick, preferably a painful one.

He screamed as the pain shot through his entire body making himself shake from the shock. Had the pipe been iron it may have been a different story, but he achieved the result he wanted. The visions had gone, leaving him alone once more.

He removed the pipe. "I gotta find Beast Boy." He hoisted himself to his feet, his powers slowly working their way to healing him. "We gotta get outta here."

— **/0/—**

Foster Edgar ran his fingers through his hair to smooth it down. With it looking somewhat tame he moved to pull his white robes over himself.

He turned away from the mirror when he heard a knock at his door. "Come in." Doctor Callahan stepped into his dressing room. "Make it quick Callahan."

She wore a crooked smile. "All of the Titans are in the basement levels, and two of them are already feeling the effects."

Foster seemed pleased. "And what if the Tameranean?"

Callahan's smile wavered. "More details are needed, they just barely—"

Fosters smile faded into a furious frown. "I don't care about the others I want the Tameranean, but I know her team will protect her. Keep an eye on them and when the time is right, take her."

"Yes sir." Callahan nodded before quickly exiting the room.

He shook his head going to one of the walls of his dressing room. "It looks like we might not need you anymore." He spoke to the wall. Using a secret lever he opened a door leading to a small room with only a cage and a single light. Inside was a woman curled up against the bars. "After we lost the first Tameranean, I thought we won the jackpot when the demon gave you too us. But you've proven to be nothing but a disappointment." He walked closer to the cage, looking down at the young woman inside of it with a small sense of pity.

"Tonight will be the final night to hopefully prove your worth to the all Holy Marker. And if you fail us again, we'll simply take the other one. Sound fair?"

The young woman looked up at him with glowing violet eyes. Her voice was dry and raspy, but still held all the venom required. "I swear. To the holy one X'hal. I. Will. Kill. You. All."

Foster smiled. "I hope so. Then we may become one with the Great Marker. But there is work to do. I hope your ready Komand'r." He stood, and fetched some food for her. "Eat up. You'll need your strength for the coming evening."

Komand'r, or Blackfire as she was commonly known, ate the food like a ravenous wolf. Her eyes still burning with hatred. "Fun fact." He called back to her. "The Tameranean on this ship is your sister. Koriand'r."

Blackfire's chewing slowly shifted into hysterical laughter. "Then forget what I said. WE will kill you all."

Foster continued griming menacingly. "If the Holy Marker wills it. So be it."

 **Told ya shit was gonna get real, especially with a new friendly face huh. You know the drill and well cya next time.**


	6. Unexpected help (part 1)

**This chapter was suppos d to be a lot longer, but once I had finished it was over 6000 words long. Long chapters are a bit overwhelming so I decided to cut it in half. It works though cuz the next chapter is already halfway done haha. **

**Enjoy this one. Read and review and blah.**

 **On with the show.**

 **Chapter 6: Unexpected Help (part one)**

With his leg newly healed, Drake managed to escape the laboratory, however he now found himself wandering aimlessly down a rustic hallway. Unfortunately with such a massive wound, he used a lot of magical energy to heal it, meaning he wouldn't be going Dragon anytime soon. If all went well he wouldn't have to.

But who was he kidding?

"Beast Boy!" He called, "Ugh, what's his real name? Something about a cat?" He came to the end of the hall before realizing the sudden drop in temperature, and a flurry of snowflakes floating before his eyes. He snorted. "Great. More visions." He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. "It's not real. It's not real. It's just the Marker messing with your head, or whatever."

With his nerves steeled and his weapons at the ready, he took another breath and leapt onto the hall.

As he expected, a gentle snowfall fluttered through the air, giving the previously imposing atmosphere a beautiful reprieve. He breathed again, forcing his rational mind to make sense of what he was seeing. But the more he stepped down the hallway, the more his rational mind began to silence. His feet crunched into the snow that had collected beneath him, further taking him from reality.

He shut his eyes and shook his head in an attempt to clear it. "This. Isn't. Real." When he reopened his eyes he noticed a series of ice statues lined against the walls. Curious he approached the nearest statue, wiping some of the condensation away to get a better look inside. A better look at a human face, frozen in fear.

He looked closer. "Chr-Christoff?" The former ice master had been frozen in a solid block of ice, his eyes glazed over, colored blue and lifeless. "No . ." He backed away, going to another statue, wiped it clean, and tried to make out the face on the other side. "Anna?"

A scream, followed by more giggling from further down the snow covered hall.

He sprinted towards the source of the sounds, noticing that the blocks of ice began to take on clearer shapes. He recognized people that he had met over the recent years, specifically the Titans. All frozen in anger and fear. As he spotted their terrified expressions, for some reason he felt as if this was all his fault.

The screaming had stopped by the time he reached the source, but the giggling continued.

Drake watched helplessly as Beast Boy was turned into a block of ice, eyes lifeless from the cold now freezing his veins. He shuddered, but his fear intensified when he saw the little girl again. Snow sprinkling from her fingertips as she clapped excitedly. He trembled at the sight letting out a shaky frigid breath that got her attention.

She turned around, smiling a smile as white as the snow around them. She pointed, "Daddy! Daddy! Look what I did!" Her eyes shined with hazel glee that made his stomach twist into knots.

Beast Boy was dead, and she was . . . happy?

He knelt down and grabbed her by her shoulders. "Jacqueline what did you do?"

Her smile faded, a look of hurt coming over her eyes. "But daddy. Now he'll never leave me. Like you did."

His heart shattered as if it was encased in ice itself. Tears started to freeze to his cheeks. "Jackie I . . I didn't mean . . I didn't know."

" _Are you sure about that?"_

He felt as if someone had slammed a sledge hammer into his gut at the sound of her voice. He hung his head, releasing his daughter who skipped off humming merrily to herself. Once again he felt her arms snake around his shoulders and her cheek placed against his own.

" _Are you sure you didn't know?"_

"How could I?" He growled with a growing anger. "How could I have known you were carrying our child?"

She presses her red lips to his cheek. " _But you remember that night?_ " She whispered in a low husky tone. " _The one on the cliff, before we said goodbye?"_ Her cool fingers touched the side of his face and move it so that their eyes met. He had no choice but to face her now. " _The dragon, inside you, it knew. It knew the moment the night we made love. It fought so hard for you to stay with me, stay with us, but you ignored it."_

He shook from her touch and got to his feet. "I do remember. I remember that thing burning and clawing inside of me for me to stay, but I can't change that now."

Elsa sat elegantly with her hands folded neatly in her lap, as if she wasn't bothered in the least by what was happening around her, and shrugged a bare shoulder. " _I suppose your right. But there is something you need to do now."_ She stood up causing him to brace himself, unsure of what was coming next. " _You need to kill the monster."_

He tilted his head in confusion. "Monster?"

" _The monster dad."_ Jacqueline reappeared beside her mother, this time in an older version of herself from back on earth. " _You kill monsters right?"_

He shook his head stumbling back until he was against the slick wall. "No. I'll die before I'd ever harm you."

Jacqueline disappeared with a smile and a laugh, leaving Drake alone with Elsa. She tenderly took his hand, the one holding the angel dagger. " _If that's the case, stop yourself, before you harm the monster that our daughter has become."_

A small sliver of rationality slipped through the fog of his mind. "I don't know that she's a monster, I haven't even met her yet." He snarled.

She smiled shaking her head. " _Drake. I was the monster that froze my kingdom, you slaughtered hundreds. She was born of monsters, so she is one. Simple as that."_ She helped lift the dagger, " _But if you can't take one more life to save hundreds, then you know what you have to do."_

Drake caught the glint if his reflection in the blade. So many wars and yet it still looked as if it was forged yesterday. Elsa cupped the sides of his face. " _Drake. We can finally be together again—"_ She yelped when the pendant around his neck began shooting off sparks of energy. Drake himself felt as if his mind was being torn in half causing him to drop to his knees screaming as he held the sides of his head.

The episode only lasted a minute or two, but once it passed, Elsa, Jacqueline and the snow had vanished altogether.

He took a long inhale, as if breathing for the first time and staggered to his feet, sheathing the blade and straightening his coat.

"Sorry my love, but our time is over. Rest now Drake. I'll take it from here."

— **/0/—**

Getting to the underground city wasn't the hard part, it was the uneasy feeling of malice in the air that really set the three Titans on edge. It was a bit smaller than the one above but otherwise was exactly the same, other then the obvious fact that this city had been nearly destroyed.

Cyborg shuddered. "Damn. What the hell happened here?"

Starfire briefly forgot about the warrior training she had been calling upon over the trip, in favor of slightly cowering behind Robin's cape. "This feels, wrong."

Robin had his brows furrowed, his masked eyes taking in the wasteland around him. "I agree. But our friends are down here. Cyborg do you have a location?"

Cyborg looked down at his forearm. "I've got both their signals. BB, is west," he pointed in the direction, "but Drake is closer just southeast of here." Robin put his fingers on his chin, thinking carefully about their next move. "There's also some weird signal in the air. It's hard to describe, but then best explanation is that it's alien."

Robin turned toward his friend, "Let's find the others and then worry about that later. Cyborg lead the way and we'll get Drake first seeing as he's closest."

Robin and Starfire headed in that direction, but we're stopped when Cyborg called after them. "Hold on. Wouldn't it be better to split up? You guys get the others and I'll try to get to this places security system."

Robin shook his head. "Right now our only concern is our friends."

"But Robin, Cyborg is correct. You and I are capable of finding the others ourselves." Starfire pled, but Robin acted as if he hadn't heard her.

"It's not about capability, it's about sticking together and making sure our mission doesn't fail." Without looking back he continued in the direction of Drake.

However Robin's words weren't lost on Cyborg who stood burning holes into the back of his head. "What's that supposed to mean? We can't help with this mission?"

Robin stopped, but didn't turn around. "I didn't say that. Just that this is to important to leave to chance. So nothing happens unless I'm with you, understand?"

Cyborg practically snarled in contempt. "Screw that you ass!" Cyborg checked his forearm again then headed in the opposite direction.

Robin spun around, snorting in a rage but Starfire held him back. "Leave him. We are wasting time."

Robin blinked a few times, as if he was seeing her for the first time. "Oh, uh, yeah. Let's, um, lets go." She tilted her head, looking at him strangely, but remembering her own words they headed into the city in search of their comrades.

— **/0/—**

Cyborg thundered down the sidewalk, crushing pavement and metal under his bionic feet, muttering obscenities to himself. His destination wasn't far, part of the lower leveled office area much like the city above, making it easy to find. Still he was lost in his thoughts, unaware that he was being followed.

"Lousy little, spiky haired, masked, traffic light suited, motherf— argh! He grinds my gears sometimes."

" _No wonder you considering the Justice League's offer."_

"Yeah I was thinking about it, but it's looking more and more possible the longer that—" He stopped mid stride. "Wait. Who said that?" He looked around finding himself alone. "Hello? Who's there? Star? Rob?" Silence. "Alright. Keep it together Cy. Gotta mission to do."

" _You know your wasting your time here right?"_

He formed his sonic cannon, taking aim at his surroundings. "Alright who's there?! I ain't messin' around!"

Even with his cybernetic eye searching the area he still couldn't find a single person there. "Whoever you are!" He called, "I'm going to find my friends, so if you wanna good ol fashion butt whoop just let me know!"

" _Your not looking for your friends."_ This time the voice was as clear as a bell, female and mature, and was sounding right beside him. He aimed his cannon, the glow illuminating the dark skinned face now clearly seen before him. " _Your going to try and hack the network."_

His blood ran cold as he lowered the his weapon. "M-Mom?"

Elinore Stone as she cradled the human flesh of his cheek, " _Hi baby."_

The cannon continued to glow and hum, but now he was shaking so bad there was no chance he'd be able to shoot at all. She snickered. " _No baby, I'm not really here. Your father saw to that the second he turned that machine on."_

He lowered the cannon, "No. It-It was an accident."

She closed the distance, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. " _Oh sweetie of course it was. I'm not angry at all."_ She stepped back with a look of pity across her motherly features. " _But why haven't you told your friends the truth?"_

He looked down at her oddly. "Whatdoya mean? They know all about me."

She raised a brow. " _Really? They know all about your_ accident _? They know about the portal your father opened? The monsters that slipped through? The monsters that looked exactly like the creatures on Val-Yor's ship? The creatures that killed me and ripped you to pieces? The monsters surrounding us now?"_

The silence that surrounded them was suddenly shattered by low moaning. He lifted his cannon spinning around looking for the source of the sounds. Standing at about six feet tall with wide shoulders, he wasn't intimidating by much, but his height paled in comparison to the creatures now advancing towards him.

Six, Seven foot tall lanky bone like beings draped in white lab coats shuffled aimlessly towards him, all the while vocalizing ungodly moans. They moved as if each joint was being held together by duct tape, swinging freely like a puppet with a bad marionette.

"Mom stay behind me!" The creatures shrieked before charging full speed. He stood his ground, shooting his sonic cannon into the chests of each creature, blowing them to pieces on impact. Almost too easily. "Uh? Boo-yah?"

" _Take a closer look."_

The discarded pieces began chittering and twitching before sprouting long tentacles, allowing them to crawl towards him. "Ah man! Come on!" He fired at the now moving arms, legs, heads and torsos.

"Gross sons of—GAH!" One of the heads leapt on top him, using its long appendages to wrap around his neck, pulling upwards to literally pull his head from his shoulders.

Forgetting about shooting anything, he grabbed the arms and tried to pry them off. "Get . . . off . . me!" More of the crawling body parts grabbed onto him, and pulled him to the ground. "Let . . me —" One of the tendrils cracked his armor open and began slithering through his body, ignoring the wires and metal until it felt the soft tissue of what remained of his human flesh. "N. . . NO!"

He cried out in pain when the creatures that had infiltrated his human flesh were ripped from his body. Once he felt that they were gone, he struggled to get to his hands and knees.

"Get up!" Through his watery eye, Cyborg managed to see Drake squashing the creatures like they were nothing more than bugs.

With a guttural roar, Cyborg got to his feet. "Yo! No one takes me for a joyride!" He changed both of his hands into cannons as a certain memory came to his mind. "Again!"

His cannons hummed with power, "Better move Dragon Boy!" Luckily, Drake had moved out of the line of fire in time for Cyborg to unleash as much of his power as he was able onto what was left of the creatures, turning them into ash.

With the monsters gone he fell to his knees panting from the exertion.

"Not bad. For a machine."

Cyborg glared at Drake, "I'm only half machine you ass. And who are you too—" His words caught in his throat once he got a better look at his teammate.

For all intensive purposes, it was Drake, but his eyes were different. Shimmering Golden, amber pupils that, even in the darkness, glimmered. In the center of his eyes was an ink black slit much like a cats. Around his eyes were tiny vein-like tendrils that reached down his face and to the back of his head.

Cyborg got to his feet in a defensive stance. "Drake? What's wrong with you?"

Drake held out his hands. "Easy my friend. We haven't been taken by these beasts, but I had to banish Drake to the inner corridors of his mind in order to keep him alive."

Cyborg's shoulders sagged, appearing exhausted. "Look, who or whatever you are, I was almost probed by alien 'whatever's' so just get to the friggen point."

He snorted in amusement. "Very well, but perhaps we may finish this conversation on the move. I hear more of those moaning, dividing beasts coming our way." Without waiting he moved past Cyborg heading away from the office buildings.

"Wait! I need to get to the computer systems."

Drake didn't break stride. "We are running low on time and we need to find your multi-colored companions and leave this place."

Cyborg hurried to catch up, "Will you tell me what's going on!?"

Drake finally stopped and turned around. "Something in this place was assaulting Drake's mind so to keep him alive I stepped in. That simple enough?"

Cyborg thought for a moment, then like a light bulb going off, it all made sense. "You the dragon, erm, his dragon, uh, the dragon inside of him." Drake nodded. "But I thought you were much, I dunno, bigger?"

Drake motioned to his body. "As I understand our environment isn't conducive for my true form. So for lack of a better term, I'm 'borrowing' his body for the time being." Loud cracking and twisting suddenly sounded from inside of him, causing him to contort in unnatural ways. Once the spasm was finished he stood straight. "However this is only temporary so I suggest we make haste and find your comrades."

Cyborg nodded and motioned for Drake to lead the way. " _Good thing he saved your life. Once again someone coming to your rescue."_

Cyborg paused doing his best to ignore his mother. "Um, Do you have any idea what's causing this mind thing?"

"Unfortunately I do not." He patted his body until feeling the inside of his coat, "but maybe these will make some sense." He pulled out the notes Drake had gotten from the lab and handed them to Cyborg. "Come. Your green friend isn't far."

"Wait! Why aren't you affected?"

He shrugged. "My best guess is that this mind assault only affects humans, or humanoid creatures. Myself being of the animal kingdom must render me immune."

Cyborg nodded as the vision of his mother krept into his line of sight. Thinking about what Drake, or the dragon had said, Cyborg reached for his forearm and began adjusting the controls so that his robotic mind took more of the lead. He remembered when he had done this before and nearly erased him for good, so for now he'd have to be careful. With his mother gone, it was at least working.

"So What do I call you if your not Drake?"

Cyborg heard him sigh in frustration. "My name is to long and complicated for you so you may call me what the humans called me in my time. Traken."

— **/0/—**

An exhausted Raven staggered into the bedroom with Beast Boy following closely behind.

"Ugh my feet are killing me," she kicked her shoes off and flopped onto the bed, "Thank goodness Mary-Beth didn't make me wear those heels. My feet probably would have fallen off."

Beast Boy sat at the foot of her bed and grabbed one of her feet. "Then how's about a foot rub?"

She wasn't great with physical contact, and especially didn't want anyone touching her feet. "Uh how about you don—" Time and space lost all meaning as he began slowly kneading the soles of her feet. "—oh . . . god. . "

He chuckled, "Is that good?"

She flopped her head onto her pillow. "Just shut up and rub."

"As you command." She moaned again as his masterful hands intensified. "That was some shindig huh?"

"Mhmmm," she moaned, "I fought tooth and nail for them not to throw an engagement party, but whatcha gonna do? You know how Alice gets."

He grabbed her other foot and continued his work. "I sure do. I'm surprised none of the others showed up."

Eyes still closed she asked, "What others?"

"You know," he slapped her leg, "Cy, Rob and Star. Not to mention our other Titan friends."

Raven slowly lifted her head, a sad somewhat horrified look in her eyes. "Y-your joking right?"

He laughed, thinking this to be just another joke. "No. They're our best friends. I'll bet their on some mission or something."

She tore her feet away, startling him. "Beast Boy If this is a joke this isn't funny."

"Hey, Hey, hey," he held out his hands, approaching her like a frightened animal, "What's going on?"

Clearly he wasn't joking, but she couldn't understand how he could be so oblivious. "Gar. Their dead. All of them, our friends, the Titans, dead."

Now it was his turn to be confused and let out a small disbelieving chuckle, a chuckle she didn't join him in. Once he had realized that this wasn't a joke, he suddenly felt woozy.

"I-I need some air."

"Gar Wait!" She snatched him by the hand and helped ease him onto the bed.

He was hyperventilating, his eyes large and moving in all directions. "Wha-how-when. . . ?"

"Gar, take a breath it's okay."

He looked at her as if she was the one that had gone crazy. "Okay? Our friends are dead!"

"Gar it happened a long time ago. I thought you had moved past it by now."

He shook his head at a loss for words, but then Something occurred to him. He had gotten over their deaths, he remembered their funerals. He remembered holding Raven close as she sobbed in his arms for days it seemed. They were gone, but he and Raven had a life, a life without being heroes.

"We . . . we weren't Titans anymore. We stopped being superheroes. We weren't with them when they . ."

Raven pressed the gentle tips of her fingers against his trembling lips. "Gar it wasn't our fault. We left that life a long time ago, we couldn't have saved them, just like you couldn't save your parents."

His eyes, eyes filled with such heartbreak, met hers. "But. ."

"Shhhh." She pressed her lips to his own and helped guide him so that they were now lying upon the bed. They broke the kiss as her fingers danced through his hair. "It's okay. I'm here. You can rest now."

He suddenly felt his eyelids begin to droop, the soothing sounds of her voice luling him to sleep. "Just . . . Sleep. . ."

— **/0/—**

 **To be continued . . . . Duh.**

 **for extra fun head to YouTube and look up Necromorph divider sounds. Spooky.**


	7. Unexpected help (part 2)

**Part two of the previous chapter.**

 **Lets see how Robin and Starfire are doing shall we.**

 **You know the drill.**

 **On with the show.**

 **Chapter 7: Unexpected help (part 2)**

BOOM!

It only took one powerful blast for Starfire to blow down the aged metal door. What was on the other side they had no idea, but Robin's communicator was leading them further into areas unknown.

"This way." Using one of her Starbolts, Starfire illuminated the area, showing them to be traveling into some sort of recreational area. It was easy to forget that the crew aboard the ship had been there for years, so of course they would need some form of relaxation in between missions.

While Robin took in the area around them, Starfire floated behind, glaring hard at her boyfriend.

"Robin you have yet to answer my question." She called, "Why are you treating Cyborg like a newborn bumgorf?"

Robin appeared dismissive of her question, choosing to keep his attention straight ahead. "I've already told you. I have to make sure this mission goes right and I can't do that if we split up."

She floated closer. "You are acting as if Cyborg is incapable of succeeding in his mission without your assistance."

She almost floated into him when he suddenly stopped. "I don't question his abilities, it's just my job to keep my team safe, and if he follows my instructions to the letter then I can make sure that happens."

She narrowed her eyes, but now with suspicion. She understood Robin had some leadership issues, micromanaging, weird orders, etc., but over the years he had changed for the better. However as she looked at him now, it was if he had aged backwards a few years. She didn't like it. Plus when he used the word "team", it felt more like a military group instead of the family he knew them to be.

Robin's communicator began buzzing. "We're here."

Starfire allowed her starbolt to shine a bit brighter. "But I do not see him."

Robin looked up from his communicator, but before he could say anything he was taken aback as to where they were. Before them was another long hallway, but unlike rustic metal, vents, and railings, there were brightly colored blues, reds and yellows. Above then was a sign that read, "Sprawls little Darlings" in the same bright colors.

The pair couldn't find the words to express how puzzling this all was to them. Starfire seemed to find her small hesitant voice first. "Is this place where people care for children for a day?"

Robin thought back to what Callahan had said about the mission for the Sprawl, and how long they had been out. It would stand to reason that over the years people would start families. Still the idea just seemed so bizarre.

She gulped. "Please tell me friend Beast Boy is not in there."

"Just get in and get out. If we're lucky it's out of operation." Without waiting he continued onward.

She shivered, but followed in after him.

After a few minutes of walking Robin checked his communicator. "Huh. It says Beast Boy is right there." He pointed to his left where there was a large glass window separating them from what looked like a large playpen. Starfire shined the light into the pen catching the glint of silver off of Beast Boy's belt and a small creature suckling on the metal.

Starfire gasped, slapping her hands over her mouth in horror. Robin's eyes widened and he fought to keep his lunch down.

The creature looked shockingly like a baby. An earth baby.

Aside of the grey discoloration and the cracked skin, it was the enormous pulsing sack on its back that made their stomachs turn.

The horror wasn't over just yet.

"Oh honey." The Titans jumped at the voice of an emancipated woman staggering into the light of the playpen, arms outstretched and beckoning the baby to come to her. "Your parents are finally here. You can go home now."

The baby dropped Beast Boys belt and began crawling towards the woman, the sack on its back sloshing with an odd liquid, until it was in her arms. Her sunken eyes met the Titans.

"He's been such a good boy." He arms tightened around the child, squeezing the bulging sack that started to give off and eerie glow the tighter her arms got. "I could just squeeze him." The glowing intensified, as did her squeezing.

"On no! Robin she is going —"

A flash, so bright they had to shield their eyes, preceded by a boom, and red splotches splashing against the window. Robin shielded his shrieking girlfriend from the carnage with his cape, but through her shock she was able to push him off of her.

"No! Beast Boy —"

"— wasn't in there. We didn't see him."

She was panting, taking a moment or two to get her bearings. "He was not . . . in there." She kept telling herself over and over until she was certain. "That . . . That was no earth infant."

"No Star it wasn't. It was another of those mutant . . . Things." He grew quiet as his mind began working over time. "Beast Boy isn't here, but his belt was. Someone led us here."

THUMP!

Starfire squealed. Robin faced the window, seeing small creatures hurling themselves at the bloody window. Their unholy shrieking sounded like a squealing pig and a young child screaming bloody murder. The window splintered as the pounding continued.

"Robin!"

"Star let's move!" They took off further into the daycare just as the window shattered, releasing a horde of shrieking, pale, children sized mutants. They crawled along the walls like roaches, advancing on the Titans with talons pointed and ready to rip and tear at their flesh.

While still floating away, Starfire spun around blasted with her starbolts as Robin threw a few of his exploding disks. The combination of their attacks blew out the walls and ceilings, crushing the pack.

Once they were sure they were in the clear, they paused a moment to catch their breath. "Those . . are children?"

Robin grabbed her by her shoulders and gave her a firm shake. "Listen to me. They're not human anymore. We have to keep —"

"NEAAAGH!"

Gurgling and hacking screams sounded from further into the darkness of the hall, accompanied by an ominous glow. Three creatures, hobbling on one leg and being propped up by one elongated arm, staggered towards them. The other arm was dragging along an enormous glowing sack like a trash bag full of glowing gunk.

"Whatever these things are," Robin grit his teeth and extended his bowstaff, "I'm getting sick of them." He was about to lunge towards them but Starfire held him back.

"I feel it is unwise to engage with them in close proximity. Observe the glowing sacks they carry."

With a quick jerk of his shoulder, he shook off her hand. "I know how to protect you Starfire. I don't need your help." Stunned she watched him lunch himself towards their attackers only to be intercepted by more of the child-like creatures crashing from the ceiling.

She watched in horror, but before she could counter attack, more of the pale pack had come down on her, biting and slashing at her tough Tameranean skin.

Robin beat the creatures off of him, but was aware of Starfires battle cry and starbolts lighting the darkness. "Get away from her!" He ran towards her, but stopped when three talons went through his leg. He screamed before he was able to beat the child mutant off of him. Still he crumbled to the ground as the pain radiated through his body.

"NEAAGH!"

Through watery eyes he could see Starfire being beaten by the creatures, at least what he thought were creatures. As his vision cleared he could see her out cold on the ground and a man, white skinned and clad in a purple suit standing over her with a bloody crowbar. A sick yellow toothed grin spread ear to ear as he brought the crowbar down on her again.

"No. . . .not him . .not again."

" _Do you see Robin?"_ His blood froze in his veins when the smooth voice of Slade sounded in his ear. " _Do you see that no matter what you do, you will always lose the ones you love?"_

As the tears flowed freely from his eyes another voice, deeper but just as menacing sounded into his other ear. " _Just like when your parents were murdered right in front of you."_ He didn't need to look up to see his former mentor looming over him. " _As if I could have cared about you. I just needed someone to continue my legacy once I was no longer able too. I guess I had to settle for you. An orphan that needed to be pitied."_

" _Shame your friends ran off on you. If only you had managed to convince the Robot that he needed to stay with you, he wouldn't have to suffer the same fate as you."_ Slade sang. " _Now watch her die."_

The joker let out a mad cackle as the crowbar came down.

— **/0/—**

"NEAAGH!"

Starfire reduced the remaining members of the pack to ashes with her eye beams. Now she could focus on what she needed to. The creatures that were on top of Robin.

"You will leave him alone!"

She readied herself to shoot off in his direction, when something else dropped from the ceiling, however this thing was dressed in black and brown rags, covering their body and face, and weilding a blue humming object in their hands. The object cut through the creatures into tiny pieces, but they made sure to leave the large pustule intact.

They sliced through the last Beast, before crushing its skull with their boot for added measure. Once all of the creatures were dead, the stranger turned to face her.

"These sacks will explode any minute now. Grab your friend and follow me."

Starfire pinched her brows together in confusion. Whoever this was didn't seem any older then herself when she joined the Titans, was male, and spoke perfect Tameranean. With impressive agility, they leapt back into the ceiling, scurrying above her in what sounded like vents. Left with no other choice, she lifted Robin into her arms and flew into the vents after them. Sure enough a few moments later the glowing sacks exploded.

After what felt like an eternity of crawling through the ventilation systems, Starfire, along with her boyfriend in her arms and the stranger leading them, emerged in one of the abandoned office buildings. She floated to the floor, looking over the Boy Wonder and was able to notice three puncture wounds bleeding profusely from his leg. Each very deep and in need of medical attention.

She faced the stranger as they went about securing the office floor. Locking the doors, drawing black cloth over the windows, etc. "Please. He needs help. He is bleeding too much." She said in Tameranean.

Her helper ignited a few lanterns, allowing them to get a much better look at his guests. Jade eyes widened beneath the rags that hid their face. "K-Koriand'r?"

She paused. "You know me?"

He approached cautiously as he tugged away his mask of rags. He was Tameranean, like her, with the same sparkling green eyes, bushy fiery red hair, and beneath the dirt and grime, was a handsome orange skinned face. All very much like her own.

She hadn't seen him in so many years, but seeing him before her now she hardly recognized the young man he had become.

"Ry-Ryand'r?"

Through the tears that were building in his eyes, he nodded. "Yes . . . it's me."

She got to her feet and approached him. Her hand outstretched to his face as if he was an illusion, or like so many times before, just another dream.

She cupped his cheek, using her thumb to clear away some of the grime. This was him. This was her baby brother.

— **/0/—**

An old first aid kit was all they were able to use to seal Robins wounds, but it would have to do until he could get actual medical care, or if Starfire could get him to Drake in enough time for him to be able to heal Robins wounds. Once she had finished dressing them, she made sure the bleeding had stopped and that he was resting comfortably. He was pale and unconscious from blood loss, but otherwise would be fine for the moment.

"Rest now my Robin." She placed a gentle kiss onto his lips before resting her forehead onto his own.

"Kori," her brother spoke in Tameranean, "food is ready." She waited a moment before leaving her boyfriend to rest and joining her brother. "Their military calls this 'canned soup'. Apologise for it being cold." He handed her the can of soup.

"Worry not." With a small blast of a starbolt she was able to warm her can. "Why didn't you heat the can yourself?"

He sighed staring down at the floor as if in shame. "I haven't seen the sun or stars in months. I can not absorb and solar energy the way you can. I am unable to fly as well. But for all I know the joy of seeing my big sister again may grant me the ability of flight." Starfire smiled brightly. "Seeing you again has certainly filled me with such happiness."

"Oh Ryan I have so much to tell you, so many questions and no time to ask." Her face fell solemn again, "but for now I am with you."

He smiled digging in to his own soup. "You must eat."

"Where did you get this?" She asked taking a spoonful.

Once again he looked at the floor in shame. "I have had to resort to some unsavory means in order to survive. Like stealing food from the city above."

"How long have you been here?"

He thought for a moment. "Eight months."

She quickly added the math in her head. "But I have not seen you since the siege of our planet. Surely you were not here this whole time."

He narrowed his brows at her. "Galfore never told you?" He angrily stabbed at his food when she responded with silence. "In order to preserve the family line, Galfore sent me away to the planet Anodyne. As much as I loved being among their people I had to find out the fate of our people, our parents, my sisters through messages relayed to me by Galfore. I was unable to come home for fear of repercussions."

She felt her heart sink. "But my brother, Galfore is now the emperor of our planet."

His face fell into a scowl. "I know, but even when he asked me to come home I would not. I was just so . . . angry with him." His anger faded into regret and fear. "I wish I had known what a foolish decision that was . . ."

She completely forgot about her food and scooted closer to him. "Ryand'r what happened to you? To Anodyne?"

He shuddered clearly going to a dark place in his mind, but gathered enough courage to speak. "It was about a year ago. Anodyne was a prosperous and fruitful planet. No violence. No hate. No hunger. But all of that changed one day." He took a deep breath before exhaling slowly. "When the Marker came."

Her eyebrows rose. "Marker? What is that?"

Anger replaced his fear. "A device of pure evil Koriand'r. It crash landed onto the planet and within a week the Anodyne people began ripping each other apart. I . . . I had never seen such violence. Even from our home planet . . ."

He returned to the dark place, but Starfires has to keep pressing. "But Ryand'r, What IS it?"

He opened his mouth to speak, but thought of something else instead. "I'll show you." He stood up and headed to one of the vents.

"No. I cannot leave Robin."

Ryand'r looked at him and back to his sister. "He will be fine. We aren't going far." Without waiting He leapt into the ceiling vent. She paused, looking to Robin and then to the vent.

She sighed. "Worry not Robin. I will return shortly." With another, this time longer, kiss on his lips, she flew into the vent after her brother.

He wasn't lying. It only took them a few minutes for them to navigate the air vents until he came to a stop in front of a large louver. And on the other side a deep crimson glow. "See for yourself."

The air had become thicker and a large stone seemed to form in the pit of her nine stomachs the closer she got. She peered through the grates of the louver looking down into a large rounded room and in the center, lit up by spotlights, was an enormous double helix designed obelisk colored a dark, menacing red. The sight alone was enough to unsettle her. She had never seen such a thing before, but no matter how it may have looked, she could feel how unnatural it was.

"That is it? The Marker?"

He nodded. "One of them at least."

She sat down against the wall of the air vent. "One of them?"

"This space station is designed to study the Marker. As far as I know they had one just like this one before taking the one from Anodyne."

"What happened to the first one?"

He shrugged. "From what I've gathered it was destroyed, but then they found this one from the planet Anodyne."

She glanced through the louver at the item again. "How is it that such a thing is responsible from the destruction of Anodyne?"

He followed her gaze, staring at the Marker with Complete hatred. "I wish I knew. All I know is that as soon as that thing crash landed the planet people began to go mad, killing each other and themselves, turning themselves into these awful, horrendous creatures that fed off the dead one after the other."

"Going mad?" She gasped, "you mean—"

He shook his head, "One thing the scientists discovered about the Marker is that our people are immune to its effects." His hands balled into shaking fists. "They experimented on our people. Refugees, citizens, any Tameranean they could get their hands on." His lower lip quivered. "I couldn't save them. I tried so hard to save them . . ."

She took his hand. "Ryand'r, you survived this long. I have seen these creatures, I'm sure you did all you could."

"But I could have done more, even when the Vernathian came—"

"The Vernathian? Val-yor?"

He nodded. "When he came here looking for information about Anodyne I tracked him down. Told him everything, but he was taken by Foster and experimented on until he escaped. But there wasn't much left of him after that."

Starfire snorted a laugh. "I'm surprised he helped you. He was not a fan of our people."

He laughed a little. "He said as much. But a Tameranean saved his life once so he felt it his duty to pay them back in some way."

Starfire couldn't help but smile, but she would have to tell him the story at a later time. She looked back at the Marker. "We must destroy it."

He sighed shaking his head. "I don't have the power too."

"But I do. My team and I have the power to destroy this monstrosity."

This time he looked at her with brows together, before shaking his head. "Of all creatures humans are more susceptible to the Markers influence. That's why this city is almost destroyed and the city built above it. To separate themselves as much as they can."

"Ryand'r you do not know my team—"

"—what do you mean 'team'? What kind of team?"

She let out a frustrated sigh. "It is a story that is long, but know that I was taken care of when I was in Earth, and that they are capable of destroying the Marker."

"Koriand'r listen to me," he begged, "The Marker doesn't just drive you mad, it fills your head with lies. Telling you what you desire to hear so that they may worship it. Foster, and everyone on the upper levels worship this thing. It is a living, evil thing and If your team hasn't —"

"They have not!" She shouted. "I will show you how strong they are, in body and mind, but we must find them." She started down the vent heading back to where they had left Robin, as her brother called after her. She pressed on, ignoring his rants of hopelessness and the evil the Marker is capable of.

Starfire knew. She knew what her friends were capable of, and no glowing space rock was going to stop them. Nothing would. She had rallied her team before, when Warp had sent her back in time, all hope was lost then as well. She could do it again. She had too.

The two siblings appeared in the office building, Ryand'r still struggling to get through to his sister. However once they had returned to their hideout, they saw that Dr. Callahan and a group of armed soldiers were waiting for them.

"Hello Starfire." Callahan grinned. Starfire grit her teeth, consuming her hands in starbolt energy. "Stand down," she pointed to the still unconscious Robin who was pinned to the ground with a gun to the back of his head, "or he dies." Her eyes then flitted to Ryand'r. "And you found our missing a Tameranean, good for you. Once again, stand down or they both die."

Starfire stood in front of her brother. "You will not touch him." She screamed in English.

Callahan shrugged. "Fine. Then Robin dies." The soldier pressed the gun deeper into the back of Robins head.

Reluctantly, and still full of righteous fury, Starfire powered down her starbolts. Callahan nodded to her other soldiers giving them the Okay to restrain the two Tameraneans. "Where your other friends?" They were forced to their knees and shackled with PCC's, but Starfire just glared at Callahan who rolled her eyes and addressed a handful of her other soldiers. "Find the others. Hopefully the Marker hasn't claimed them yet." She then looked down at the Tameraneans and the two men behind them. "And get them ready for the ceremony. Tonight the Marker will finally chose."

They were pulled to their feet and, along with Robin, ushered out of the office. Starfire whispered to her brother in Tameranean. "What does she mean chose?"

Ryand'r once again sighed. "Remember I said the Marker is a living thing? Well like all living things it needs to survive and to do that it implants instructions on how to create more like into a mind of a host of its choosing. But it only picks one."

She looked at him in confusion. "How do you know this?"

He gazed into her eyes. "Because, back on Anodyne, it already chose me. And if they find that out, we're all dead."

 **To clarify the conversation between Ryand'r and Starfire was in Tameranean.**

 **Ugh can't something just work out for these guys?!**


	8. Beasts

**I struggled with this chapter for some reason...but who cares I got it out now!**

 **stay tuned to the end where I'll have a special announcement.**

 **on with the show**

 **Chapter 8: Beasts**

Cyborg once again checked the screen on his forearm looking for the green dot that indicated the location of his best friend. They were getting closer, but had to stop while Traken went through another episode of trying to keep his true form contained.

" _This one is now literally holding you back."_

Cyborg ignored the disembodied voice of his mother, making sure to adjust the settings to his systems, making sure his computer brain overshadowed his human mind until any evidence of his mother had vanished.

Cyborg groaned with his eyes rolled to the ceiling. " **How much longer will you be engaging in your struggle against your stronger self**?" He shook his head when he noticed that his voice was more computer then he would have liked. "I mean, dude what's taking so long?"

Traken let out one last snarl before breathing the pain away on his hands and knees. "I apologize that my being in discomfort is an inconvenience for you."

Cyborg shuffled his shoulders, "Sorry. It's just that we need to find BB, and we don't know what shape he's in."

Traken spat a small amount of blood. "If it's of any comfort he is still alive, but your device is leading us in the wrong direction."

"Hey my tech don't mess up. It's as reliable as they come."

Traken chuckled as he stood to full height. "We can't even trust our own minds. My instincts are leading me this way." He pointed to his right. "Shall we." Without waiting Traken headed in that direction leaving a sputtering and grumpy Cyborg to follow.

"How much longer do you think you can hold that form?" He asked.

"I am unsure, but I'd rather not push the limits if it's all the same to you. I wouldn't say I'm enjoying being in this form."

Cyborg picked up on the hint of venom that Traken spoke with. "Guessing you not a fan of humans?"

Without missing a beat he responded. "I wouldn't say that. I like humans just fine. Medium rare preferably."

There was a momentary pause to Cyborgs steps before he let out a dry chuckle. "That's, uh, a joke right?"

Traken glanced over his shoulder, "Sure." He suddenly stopped, his head snapped forward towards a large opening leading into darkness. He took a few sniffs of the air. "Our green friend is in here, and he's not alone."

"More of those creatures?"

"Of course."

The two entered through the doorway which opened into a large dome shaped hall riddled with debris, scrap metal, and containers that had been covered with red sacks of flesh. The occasional scittering sounded from around every corner making Cyborg aim his charged cannon in all different directions, casting a blue glow across the darkness. Traken however was to calm for Cyborgs taste.

"Your not the least bit anxious?"

Traken shrugged a shoulder. "I've been around for over a few thousand years my friend, there isn't much I haven't seen."

Cyborg chuckled. "This is an alien nest though."

"Like I said. There isn't much I haven't seen, up to and including what lies beyond the stars that dot our heavens." He threw up his fist, halting Cyborg in his steps. He sniffed a few times and cocked his head, care to ignore the noises around him. "We're close."

"How close?"

BOOM! . . . . BOOM!

Two long legs appeared in front of them along with two legs appearing behind them, surrounding them on both sides. Looking up, long tendrils began whipping in their direction attempting to grab them.

"Move!" Cyborg didn't need to shout twice as the red, grotesque tendrils came swirling down towards them. Cyborg rolled, avoiding the grabbing appendages, but kept his eyes skyward to see what he was dealing with. So far the only thing he could make out were stone covered legs, an heavily armored underbelly, and tentacles. One tentacle in particular was wrapped around something green, a stark contrast to the red, black and grey coloring around it.

"Beast Boy!" From his angle it appeared as if Beast Boy was unconscious, and shouting his name wasn't working to wake him. Suddenly large armored plates opened around the front of the stone structure, revealing at least two rows of teeth and another tongue like tentacle slithering from it maw. With its mouth now open the tentacle holding Beast Boy began to lower the changeling inside.

"Oh no you don't!" Cyborg fired his cannon directly at the monstrosities mouth.

It shrieked in pain, it's footsteps thundering as it staggered from the blow, closed its mouth and released the changeling. Cyborg ran towards his falling comrade only to find a black dot fly through the sky, catch him and land safely.

Traken eased Beast Boy onto the ground just as Cyborg skidded to a stop beside them. "Is he alright?"

"He's out cold," Traken pressed two fingers against his neck, "but he's alive." The spider creature above roared in fury, it's legs shaking the ground as if it was throwing a tantrum. "I believe we've upset our friend."

Three more tentacles emerged from the creatures body, these ones tipped with stingers similar that those found on a scorpion, and began impaling the ground searching for prey.

Cyborg knelt down and scooped Beast Boy into his arms. "Traken we gotta go!"

The creature roared again, this time opening up another piece of armor plating to reveal a sack, splitting open and releasing smaller scorpion-like creatures down onto the Titans. Once they hit the ground, it was frighteningly clear that these weren't scorpions.

Human torsos with the bottom half of their bodies missing and consisting of the nothing but the human spine, began crawling towards them. Teeth had been replaced with fangs, and hands with claws, the base of their spines tipped with a curved bone giving off the illusion of a scorpions tail. They let out a human like moan, pushing off the ground and leaping towards them. Claws, fangs, and tails all bared and ready to kill.

Cyborg saw Traken begin battle with the creatures, but his movements were clumsy and uncoordinated, bringing Cyborg to a horrifying conclusion. Traken wasn't a proficient enough fighter in a human body, it wouldn't be long before he was overwhelmed completely. Not only were they being attacked by these leaping beasts, but they also had to dodge attacks coming from the monster above them.

Traken growled as one of the leapers sunk its teeth into his shoulder.

"If you would like to lend some assistance, I wouldn't be opposed to it." He wrapped his arm around its head and with one jerking motion, pulled it off its body.

Cyborg took this chance to look down at his green teammate. He appeared to be in a dream like state, not unconscious like he had previously assumed. It was clear that he was unaware that they were in mortal danger.

Shouldn't his animal instincts tell him he's in trouble? Unless even they're smothered by this dream he's in?

With a swift strike of his large metal hand, he brought it across his face. "Come on B wake up!" One more time.

SMACK!

Emerald eyes shut open, but something was different about them. Not that Cyborg spent time gazing into his best friends eyes, but he couldn't help but notice the glassy, glazed over look they held. Beast Boy blinked a few times before taking on a dreamy far off look when he met Cyborgs eyes.

"Raven, come back to bed silly." He wrapped his arms around Cyborgs neck and attempted to coax him to the ground.

"Uh, B, it's, Um." With Cyborg nestled against him, Beast Boy nuzzled into his neck. "Yo, B you should—"

Cyborg was suddenly jerked off the ground with a powerful forearm wrapped around his neck and squeezing. Even though they were surrounded by monsters, Cyborg knew it was Traken that was attempting to squeeze the life outta him.

"YO! What are . . . Doing?!"

Traken whispered into his ear the words, "Play along" before turning his attention to Beast Boy. "Green one! I have your woman!"

"Dude what the hell do you think your—" Cyborgs eyes, including his bionic one, widened when Beast Boy leapt to his feet, roaring in a rage, and pounced on top of them, changing, mid air, into the Beast.

With one swipe of his claws, he knocked Traken away from Cyborg, sending him crashing into metallic debris. Cyborg scrambled to his feet, making sure to keep his eyes on the Beast at all times.

He swung his head in Cyborgs direction. Nostrils flared, fangs exposed and ears back.

"B? You in there?" The Beast stared at him for a few moments, shaking his head as if shaking off the dust from a dream. "B listen to me. If you're in there you have to stay like that. Something in here is messing with our minds and your animal form is the only thing that can keep you sane?" The Beast shook his head, but recognition and understanding flashed in his eyes. "Atta Boy."

The beast bared its fangs, letting out an unholy howl before pounding onto the incoming leapers clawing and ripping and caking his green fur with blood.

" _Really you could done that just as easily by yourself. You don't need these idiots."_

Cyborg rolled his eyes again. "Sorry Mom, but I have to tune you out." Once again he adjusted the settings on his arm, and felt his human consciousness fading even more.

Before Cyborg could join the battle, he ran into the debris. "Traken, you here? Where are you?!"

He followed the sounds of growling, grunting and straining until he found Traken on his hands and knees amidst the metal. Cyborg met him on the ground.

"It worked. I think his mind is clear."

Trakens face was twisted in concentration as he struggled and strained. Cyborg could hear the bones and muscles straining and cracking under an unknown weight. "Congratulations — Garrrrgh! I can't . . . Hold it . . . back!"

Cyborg got to his feet and aimed his sonic cannon at incoming leapers and tentacles. "Then don't." He jumped into the fray leaving a smirking Traken to allow his true form to emerge.

The beast ripped a few of the leapers into pieces while dodging more oncoming tentacles, Cyborg hung back, making sure to provide cover fire in The meantime.

"B! I think it's time — **we leave this location to resume —** look for Robin and Starfire!"

The Beast looked at him oddly, a furry brow raised in confusion as if asking why would they leave in the midst of battle.

"I know — **but we are running low on time and we must locate our companions."**

The entire dome began to shiver and quake beneath them, even the creatures looked around in worry and panic. A roar of challenge alerted everyone to the obsidian colored, fire breathing beast. Wisps of Black smoke emanated from his open jaws as he slammed his claws into the ground. He extended his wings, a sign of dominance over all creatures, at least on earth. The mutant spider shrieked in acceptance to his challenge and thundered towards the dragon.

It shot his tongue, the smaller teeth at the end digging into the dragon's neck, or at least tried to. His scales were to tough for it to pierce, making it easy for Traken to throw his head back, pulling the spider closer and biting down on its tongue. It released him, screeching in pain, but also signaling the leapers to attack.

Without a second's hesitation, the scales of his underbelly glowed red orange before releasing a stream of fire, bathing the ground in his flame.

See the fire, the beast pounced towards his comrade, took him in his huge gorilla sized arms, and jumped with ease to avoid the flames. Traken swing his tail, giving the two Titans the chance to leap onto his back to avoid the Fire consuming everything on the ground below.

The spider charged again, stingers now stabbing aimlessly trying to impale the dragon. He swiped the stingers aside with his claws and with a single beat of his wings, launched himself on top of the spider to pin it down.

"I'll hold it off!" He roared to the two in his back, "You go find the others!"

" **But we can not —** just leave you by yourself!"

The spiders stingers began stabbing at the dragon as he held him down, but did little to no damage. "I'll be fine. Just find the others!"

Cyborg was about to argue further, but the beast placed a paw on his shoulder. He shook his head discouraging him for arguing further, seeing as how it was essentially pointless to argue.

Traken aimed his tail towards the exit. "Go now!"

The Titans looked down the tail, a wide grin spreading across Cyborgs face. "Man beastie woulda loved this." And with that the two slid down his back and tail away from the ensuing battle.

Traken threw the spider against the wall, but waited a moment for the creature to right itself. A wicked smirk grew across his scaly lips. "I'll have you know, I've waited a lifetime for this." With another roar the beasts clashed again.

— **/0/—**

Dr. Foster Edgers, dressed in white robes, knelt before a miniature version of the Marker atop a small alter. He touched his forehead to the floor twice before letting it rest on the third time.

"Oh great Marker. Thank you for finding me worthy to carry your message of peace and unity through your wise teachings. I ask, as I plead every day, that you continue to bless me and my efforts so that your reach extends far beyond the Sprawl, to parts both known, and unknown."

He lifted his head an inch off the floor listening carefully to the disembodied whispers that echoed through his mind. Tears came to his eyes as an overwhelming sense of joy filled his heart.

"Yes. Yes thank you." He bowed his head again, repeating his words of thanks, even when the doors to his chambers swung open.

"Apologies Doctor."

Without looking he held up his hand to quiet Callahan. "Worry not my child. I was finishing my prayers." He stood up and turned around, wiping his eyes in the process. "How May I help you?"

She smiled and stood aside for her men to toss Starfire, Ryand'r and the still unconscious Robin into his quarters. "Look what we found searching for the Titans?"

He let loose a wide toothy grin looking past Starfire and Robin going directly to Ryand'r. "Prince Ryand'r. Here I thought we lost you." He scowled at the man before spitting a few words in Tameranean. "Still haven't learned English I see. May I ask what he said?"

Starfire chuckled, "Things not very flattering about your mother."

While his grin never faltered, his eyes fell to a look of pity. "I understand he may be a tad hurt by what I did to his Anodyne and Tameranean friends, but know that their sacrifices weren't in vain."

"Sacrifices?" Starfire got to her feet, seething a red hot rage that made Fosters men concerned for his safety. But he held out his hand, stopping them from interfering with the princess. "Is that what you call the torture and death of innocents?"

He shook his head in sadness. "I know, your upset, but only because you can't see what I have seen. What the Marker has shown me through them giving their lives. Don't you see." He reached out his hand, grabbing her by her arms just above the Power canceling cuffs. Once again, his men were on edge with the volatile alien warrior, but he seemed in complete control of the situation.

"The Marker has shown me truth. Truth that there can be no more death, no more differences in races, we can be one and the same and you," he cupped her face tenderly, "and your people have been chosen. You are all immune to its effects, making you the perfect vessels to carry on its great work."

Ryand'r shouted in Tameranean leaving Starfire to translate. "And how many have to die to achieve this 'work'? How many have to become those creatures?"

Foster shrugged, releasing the sides of her face. "Earthlings have a saying, 'can't break an omelet without breaking a few eggs' and in this case, as many as necessary."

Her shoulders went rigged. "And my friends?"

Once again he looked saddened especially when he glanced down at the Boy Wonder. "I'm afraid they have been judged by the Marker and been found unworthy. Speaking of, where are the rest of her team?"

Callahan stepped forward. "We're still searching the lower levels, but we believe that they to have failed."

Foster shook his head. "A shame. But don't worry. They will be giving their lives in progressing the Markers work."

"And what is this work? What does the Marker want?" Starfire asked in a rage.

"What the Maker has always wanted." Foster went to the altar and ran his hands over the small statue, "to spread its message across the universe, one planet at a time, until we are all one." He turned to his men. "Continue the search for her team, after you've locked these two away." He turned to Callahan. "Make preparations for the ceremony. The Marker will give us the instructions needed."

The Tameraneans and Robin were taken to the far wall of his quarters where they opened a hidden door leading to a row of cages set up next to each other. They were thrown into an empty cage, Robin in his own, before slamming the hidden door shut, leaving them with only a small amount of light.

"This is not good." Starfire said in Tameranean. "They will learn that the Marker can not give anything."

"Then we're as good as dead." Starfire looked passed her brother to an individual in a separate cage. Someone who was shrouded in the darkness which was made easy by her dark hair and skin. An all to familiar pair of cerese colored eyes shimmered dimly in the darkness.

They gasped upon realizing who was sharing the darkness with them. "Blackfire?"

She rested her head against the bars of her cage, allowing a small grin to come upon her face. "Aren't you a little short to be a stormtrooper?" Her eyes suddenly went wide. "Ry?"

"Sister Komand'r!" He got as close to her cage as possible, wishing he could touch her especially when he saw just how beaten and hurt she appeared. "If-if I had known you were here I-I would have—"

"Don't worry about it baby bro," with her free hand she touched his cheek with the palm of her hand. "I'm used to cages. Huh sister?"

Ryand'r looked back and forth between his sisters. "Kori what does she mean?"

"It is a long story. One for later." Starfire scooted closer to Blackfires cage. "Sister. A ceremony is being planned and if we want any chance—"

"We need to work together. I'm in."

Starfire was taken aback. "Apologies but you never wish to work together."

Blackfire grinned again, a grin that was hiding months of pain. "Once a month I have been taken to that damn rock while those freaks try to convince it to give me some kind of instructions or whatever and every month I fail. They beat me, starve me, experiment on me in ways that made the citadel look like a daycare. I don't care who I have to join if it meant I got to hold Fosters still beating heart in my hand."

"No!" Starfire shouted. "We will turn them over to the Justice League, we will not kill anyone."

"Kori, I am with Komand'r. Foster is to dangerous to let live."

Starfire shot her brother a glare. "No. We do not kill. He are heroes, both on earth and beyond, and heroes don't kill. We will turn him over. Is that clear?" Silence from her siblings. "Is. That. Clear?" It took a few more moments, but her siblings, begrudgingly, agreed.

Moaning pulled Starfire to the the other with which Robin was slowly waking up. "Star. . . fire?"

She hurried to the other side of the cage to meet him. "Robin I am here." She said in English.

"Where . . are we?" His head suddenly whipped around to the corner of his cage as if someone had gotten his attention. "No. I-I didn't get us . . Oh god . . NO!"

Starfire looked at him strangely. "It's the Marker." Blackfire stated, "It's driving him mad."

"Who is this human?" Ryand'r wondered.

"Her boyfriend."

Ryand'r twisted his face. "She's with an earthling? Why?"

"Pfft. You've never seen Robin in all his acrobatic glory have you? You'll see."

Starfire was ignoring the conversation behind her and put all her focus on her team leader. She banged on the bars to get Robin's attention. "Robin! I am here follow my voice!"

His head quickly snapped in her direction. "Starfire, I got us . . . I got us captured. I got you captured. I failed this . . ." Was

She banged again. "ROBIN! COME HERE NOW!" Hesitantly he walked the small space of his cage until his face was inches from hers through the bars. "I care not what you are hearing or seeing, this is not your fault." Even with him this close to her, she hardly recognized him. Gone was the confident, self assured leader of the Titans, replaces with a frightened little boy. Her heart ached to hold him, so instead she kissed him, even if he didn't kiss her back she didn't care.

"You have saved me from so much. Now it is my turn to save you."

"Barf."

Starfire glared at her sister just as the doors opened again revealing Dr. Foster. "It's is time."

 **Like I said special announcement time. Tomorrow on my YouTube channel 6 pm mountain time I'll be having a review talk about the original Teen Titans cartoon. Come check it out! My channel is same name here. Bearhow.**

 **Cya then.**


	9. Marker

**Hopefully I got everything done that needed to get done in this chapter. If all goes well I should be able to finish this bad boy next chapter. How awesome would that be?! Have you enjoyed it thus far? I sure have. I feel like this chapter might be a little rushed or choppy, cuz there was a lot that had to be done.**

 **If you like it, you know the drill.**

 **On with the show.**

 **Chapter 9: Marker**

The Beast took a few sniffs of the ground, snorting in disgust as he apparently picked up something fowl. He shook his large head before sniffing the ground again, then took a few sniffs of the air before motioning to the left.

Cyborg looked down the hallway, noticing the scratches, and scars along the sides of the metal walls. " **Are you certain—** That our friends are down there?"

The beast gave a quick nod and Without waiting headed, down the hall. Cyborg shrugged and followed behind.

"Can you smell any more of those things?" The green monstrosity let out a menacing growl in response. "Great— **Our chances of survival or dwindling into the lower percentages."** An idea suddenly came to him and he began typing on the computer of his forearm.

Hearing the beeping, the beasts ear flicked in Cyborgs direction, he paused and leaned back on his haunches tilting his head in curiosity. " **My mind becoming more digitized is allowing me to think much clearer—** I can't believe I didn't think of this before."

The beast tilted his head again. "I'm calling for backup. So far it's just you and me. I don't know what shape Star and Rob are in, Drake is busy, so we need help."

The beast still seemed puzzled, but suddenly his ears jerked towards the hall they were traveling down. He stood to his full height, hair standing on end, and a low snarl vibrating in his chest.

Cyborg quickly finished sending the distress call. " **More of those creatures?"** His question was soon answered when he heard the growls and chittering of creatures coming hall towards them. "And our friends are down there aren't they?" The beast howled and charged full speed at the creatures coming at them.

Cyborg rolled his eyes and formed his cannon. "Question asked, question answered." And he joined his friend into the fray.

— **/0/—**

Starfire held her chin high and shoulders back as she and her siblings were led to an open hanger. To any onlooker she was merely keeping her cool in a terrifying situation, but really she was falling back on the knowledge she had learned from her friends as a Titan. Robin taught her attention to detail, so her eyes began searching for any and everything she could potentially use as a means of escape, or a weapon. Cyborg taught her a handful of medical knowledge, looking over to her chained sister it was obvious she too wouldn't be able to fly or fire a star bolt like her brother.

Ryand'r shouted something in Tameranean at the armed men that were shoving Blackfire so she'd move faster. She may appear week, but her rage would still make her a formidable opponent. Ryand'r on the other hand had little training in combat, other then what he had learned from his time here, but she was uncertain if he could hold his own without a weapon.

That left Robin.

Two guards had his arms hooked over there's as they dragged him a behind the Tameranean family. His eyes were constantly darting in every direction and would occasionally flinch as if someone was yelling into his ear.

With no other option, Starfire would just have use what she learned from Raven. Patience.

A low and eerie chanting slowly filled the large open hanger they were being forced to. Hundreds of individuals, both human and alien, where clothed in long red robes, swaying back and forth and raising and then lowering their hands in praise. Starfire looked up at the crimson colored obelisk now looming over them in a mild sense of awe. The crowd split as the men forced the group towards the foot of the Marker.

The double helix stone structure gave off an sinister red glow that bathed its worshipers as if touching them one by one. A few of them even fell to their knees, slamming their foreheads into the ground in reverence. She gasped when she saw the slightest trickle of blood ooze from their faces.

"You get used to it." Blackfire snuck up beside her sister, even though anger kept the weakened Tameranean upright, she was still rather calm and at ease even with the madness surrounding them.

Starfire continued to examine their surroundings, noticing catwalks and chains dangling above them, and pieces of old spaceships littering the walls. This brought her to the conclusion that this used to be some kind of repair wing for their ships. If she could manage to get Robin, her sister and brother to the cat walks above them, they may be able to escape. In the meantime she would have to exercise patience until an opportunity presented itself.

"What does the Marker give to them?" Starfire asked in their native language.

Blackfire only shrugged. "You guess is as good as mine. The only thing these idiots say is that it gives them 'truth'. A truth that needs to be shared with the universe."

"And I assume our people help spread this 'truth'?"

She nodded, her shoulders becoming tense with anger. "The Marker choses someone with whom to give this 'truth' too. Since Tameraneans are immune they figured they'd try for it to 'speak' to me. Ever since I landed in this shit hole they've been trying to have it imprint on me, but so far nothing."

Starfire gasped. With all that had been going on she hadn't even bothered to ask her sister how she even ended up there in the first place. But as they grew closer to the Marker she realized that the conversation would have to wait.

"Komand'r, there is something you must know. The Marker only chooses one to imprint, and when it crashed on Anodyne, it had."

Blackfire looked at her sister oddly, wondering how she knew that, but the realization slowly came when Starfire began motioning, as subtle as she could, towards their younger brother.

The trio of Tameraneans were forced to their knees at the foot of the Marker, while the men continued to drag Robin away. Starfire fought the men that held her down.

"Where are they taking him!?"

"Don't worry princess," Foster, dressed in long red and white robes, stood before her. His presence commanding everyone to get to their feet in silence. "He will continue to serve the Marker, just a little differently than yourself."

She grit her teeth. "How is that?"

His face twisted into a half grin, half grimace. "Your better off not knowing my dear." He turned around to face the Marker. "Let the ceremony begin."

While he began chanting and rallying the crowd, the siblings talked amongst themselves in their language.

"We must stall for time." Starfire whispered.

"Here's What we'll do," Ryand'r began, "When the time is right I'll say the Marker chose me, that should distract them enough for you two to make a run for it."

With anger they glared at him, "Forget it baby brother it's not happening."

"I am with Komand'r. We will not leave you to these zealots."

Ryand'r rolled his eyes. "Then what do we do?"

"We must simply stall for time in order for Robin and my friends to come and find us. Once we are together, we must destroy the Marker."

Ryand'r shook his head, pity overcoming him due to his sisters naivety. "Koriand'r, while it's admirable that you have such faith in the earthlings, the Marker has already claimed them. They cannot help us."

She narrowed her eyes. "Hear me Ryand'r. You do not know what my friends and I have been through, or what we are capable of. If there is anyone who can help us, it is them."

Her words held such a firm belief that he shrank underneath her tone. "I hate to say it, but she's right." Blackfire droned. "But He raises a good point. How are we gonna get outta this?"

Starfire tilted her head pondering their predicament, then a knowing smile spread across her lips. "I believe I have an idea. Follow my lead."

— **/0/—**

The guards hadn't bothered placing Robin in shackles, instead they opted to simply drag the limp Boy Wonder along the metal path. Where they were taking him, he had no idea, nor could he find the energy to care.

" _You see Robin,"_ Through the cracks of his eyelids he could see flashes of Slade, standing along the walls in his usual menacing stance with arms folded behind his back. " _Once again, you've failed."_

Robins head slumped as the voice of his archenemy echoed against his skull. " _You couldn't save your parents, you could save Jason, and now you have failed your team once again."_

Over his taunting, Robin was able to hear the sounds of snarling, hacking, moaning and bellowing coming from just ahead. He lifted his head enough to see a large double door, the sounds emanating from just behind it.

The guards began talking among themselves, but weren't able to drown out the voice of Slade, or the creatures they were clearly about to feed him too.

Robin hung his head again. "Your right." Slade suddenly went silent mid sentence. "I've failed. I've failed my parents, the Batman, Jason, Babs, all of them." His breathing intensified as he began seething with anger. "But I. Will. Not. Fail. STARFIRE!" In one swift movement, he was on his feet and had taken down both men down with ease. However he hadn't noticed that one of the men had already began attempting to open the doors, allowing the creatures behind them to try and escape, scraping and clawing at the metal that held them back.

He staggered backwards, not taking his eyes off of them, but then spun around when he heard more of the creatures coming from the opposite hall.

" _Your surrounded Robin."_ Slade spoke into his ear. " _Looks like you'll have one last fight after all."_

Robin spoke through his teeth. "I'm. Not. Dying. Here." He extended his bow staff and ran with a battle cry towards the uncommoning beasts.

Blood and bone splashed against the walls as Robin saw the familiar shape of the beast ripping apart the creatures, behind him Cyborg blasted the remaining creatures into nothing. Blood and gore dropped from the maw of the Beast, satisfied with his kills, when his ears twitched, looking past Robin towards the metal doors. Still craving kill, the Beast advanced, but Cyborg put a hand on his shoulder.

"B. Give it a rest." He walked past him towards his team leader who took a defensive stance.

"How do I know either of you are real?"

Cyborg rolled his eye. " **We do not have time for this."** He grabbed Robin by his wrist and pulled him into a tight hug. " **It is clear that the visions we experience —** can't touch us."

Robin let out a breath of relief and returned the hug. "Works for me."

They separated, the Beast still staring down the doors and the creatures attempting to escape. "We need to get outta here."

Robin shook his head. "We can't leave yet. Foster is planning to do something to Starfire and her brother. There's this . . thing, this statue that Foster and everyone else here worship."

"Whatever it is — **I believe it's the reason that our minds are being tampered with.** Wait . . Did you say Starfire's brother?"

Robin chuckled, "Yeah it's been a crazy mission." The beast roared to get their attention. The creatures were beginning to push through the metal doors causing them to get back into fighting poses. "Where do these things fit in?"

Cyborg charged his sonic cannon. "No idea. Where's Starfire?"

Robin was about to respond, but he was suddenly struck with an idea. "Cyborg, can you hack those doors?"

Cyborg looked at him strangely, but quickly picked up on what he was thinking. "Oh yeah."

— **/0/—**

The siblings hadn't been paying the least amount of attention to Fosters ramblings when Starfire finally got to her feet. The guards advanced, but Foster held up his hand to keep them back, curious as to what was about to happen.

With hands still shackled she stepped forward. "I, Koriand'r of Tameran, heir to the throne, do offer myself to the Marker." With her shoulders back and her chin held high, she stepped towards the Marker only to be pushed aside by the cuffed arms of her sister.

Blackfire screeched in a rage, "No! I will not allow to take what is rightfully mine!"

Starfire stood across from her sister, her own cuffed hands held up as if to defend herself. "I took the throne from you, and I will now take the Marker from you. You only understand power and hurt, you know nothing of the wonders the Marker could provide."

Blackfire seethed, her shoulders rising and falling with each ragged breath. "You didn't TAKE anything from me. It was GIVEN to you, just like everything else in life. The throne, mother and father's love, Now I'm going to take it all back, starting with the Marker." She lunged, letting out a cry as she swung her at Starfire who blocked her weakened strikes with ease.

Foster attempted to step between them. "Ladies please, it is the Marker who chooses, you need not fight for it."

They ignored him continuing to trade blows with one another. "I will not let you steal anymore from me!"

Starfire pushed her sister back. "This is my right! And mine alone!"

Finally two men stepped from the crowd and grabbed the bickering sisters and brought them back to their knees by their brother. Foster began laughing and clapping, but Starfire was once again ignoring him smirking at her sister.

"You did well."

Blackfire, amazingly, returned a smile. "What can I say? I've had plenty of practice fighting you. I just hoped it worked."

Once Foster finished his laughing, he stood over them. "I'll admit, that was entertaining," He shook his head with a chuckle, like they were his two kids just rough housing. "But now, we must continue on in our . ." Starfire was looked up at Foster once he went silent looking over his congregation. Following his gaze, she looked behind herself seeing the fear and dread come over them before screaming in horror and beginning to scatter.

Then the horror really began.

Shouting, snarling, moaning, screeching, and hissing filled hanger. "The Necromorphs." Ryand'r breathed, his expression sharing the same fear as the rest of them.

Including Foster. His body shaking with pure terror, and Starfire could have sworn she saw something dripping from beneath his robes. His fear only intensified when the Necromorphs began ripping into the people that had scattered themselves.

"What's the matter Foster? Can not face what your precious Marker has created?"

Starfire's voice brought him back to reality. Shaking his head and taking a moment to compose himself he shouted, "Callahan!" His assistant was by his side in a second, looking just as horrified. "How did this happen? How did they get out? This is all wrong!"

She tripped over her words shaking her head, but her eyes never left the carnage taking place. "I-I don't know . . th-th—"

"Get some men together and round them all up! . . . . Callahan!" She was frozen helplessly watching as the creatures tore into the Markers Worshipers, caking the ground in blood, flesh and bone. "Callahan!"

"Fuck this!" Callahan bolted headed to an elevator that led to the catwalk above.

Starfire helped her siblings to their feet once Foster took off after Callahan. "Fosters mine!" Hands still cuffed, Blackfire took off after him, seemingly oblivious to the chaos erupting around her.

Starfire turned to her brother, "We need to find Robin."

He looked past her trying to find Blackfire. "But what about Komand'r?"

"Believe me, she will be fine. We must find my friends."

He took a harder tone with her, "Koriand'r, I'm sorry to tell you this, but your friends—"

A roar, far different than the Necromorphs, filled Starfire with the hope she needed. "Follow me!" They followed the roaring until she could see a mountain of green fur, fangs and claws slashing apart the undead. Blasts of blue sound helped clear the way while the Boy Wonder used his skills to helped whoever was caught up in the fray.

Robin tossed a few explosives, backflipping until he landed a few feet from the Tameraneans. Unable to hug him with her hands cuffed, she simple threw herself on top of him.

"Robin! You are well!"

He coughed a few times, trying to get air back into his lungs. "Is be much better once we destroy that thing!"

They got to their feet as Robin worked to remove Starfires cuffs. "But how do we do that?"

Starfire thanked Robin once the cuffs had been removed then she stood by her brother. "This is my brother, Ryand'r."

Robin nodded a greeting and went to work removing the cuffs. "Nice to meet you, but we need to save introductions for later. Right now we have to destroy that thing."

"Ryand'r do you know how to destroy it?" He began speaking, but only in Tameranean. "He says even for all its power, it is still but a mere space stone."

Robin tossed aside the shackles. "So it can be destroyed with explosives?" Ryand'r nodded then spoke again.

"He says no one can. The Marker is . . . tricky. And he and I do not possess the fire power to destroy it ourselves."

Robin looked back and forth between them and the Maker then began to dig around in his belt. "In that case you two need to take it down, and we'll provide you with as much cover as possible."

He handed the devices to Starfire who almost had a gleeful look to her eyes that he found adorable.

— **/0/—**

Callahan looked over her shoulder at the fast approaching oster, his beady, bird-like eyes narrowed in anger. "Callahan you coward! This is what we've been waiting for!"

Callahan was about to respond, but she tripped over something that made her crash onto the ground. Feeling the exposed bone and flesh she was easily able to determine what tripped her up. The creature beneath her shrieked before digging its spine like stinger into her leg, and claws into her arm to keep her pinned to the ground. She slapped and punched at the beast, but it shrieked louder, calling for its comrades.

Foster froze in his steps as the Necromorphs engulfed her, until there was nothing but screams.

He shook his head. "You idiot. This is what we've wanted."

"Yes it is." A pair of metal cuffs slammed into the side of his skull, sending him to the ground in a daze. He struggled to his back staring up at the furious Blackfire. "I told you I'd be the one that kills you." She sneered.

He started crawling backwards. "Komand'r listen to me, everything I've done has only been to further the Markers work. The universe has the right to know of its wonder."

She burst into hysterical laughter and raised her hands high over her head. "Now I'm going to complete my 'work'!" She threw her hands down on top of him, completely shattering the bones in his leg.

He screamed, but it only fueled her bloodlust. He continued to crawl away, dragging his mangled limb as he continued to beg for her to simply listen to what he was saying. She either ignored everything he was saying or couldn't hear anything over the sounds of her screams of rage. She brought down her hands again, this time getting caught just before they made contact.

"Blackfire stop!" Robin yelled, "your going to kill him!"

She fought against his grip, eyes barely showing off a shimmer of violet glow in her anger. "Good!" She lunged again, but he held her back stopping her from her anger fueled vendetta.

Foster reached out his hand and called out, "No. Let her kill me." He got into a seated position, his arms being raised above his head towards the Marker. "That way my body will be used for the Marker and it's—"

There was a large BOOM, followed by debris littering the hanger floor right before Foster disappeared inside the jaws of a giant dragon. The dragon flicked Foster into the air, giving him a spin, chomped down and swallowed him whole.

Traken flicked his forked tongue licking his lips.

"I guess his body won't be used now." Blackfire smirked.

The dragon swung his head downwards and locked his large amber eye with Robin. It was slightly comical to see just the dragon's head and neck as the rest of his body was hidden on the other side of the wall. "How may I be of assistance?"

Robin "uh'd" in confusion, but was able to come to the conclusion that this was somehow Drake. How else would a dragon be in space?

"We-we need to destroy the Marker."

The dragon followed Robins pointer finger to the glowing obelisk. He tilted his head in amusement. "So the stories of the Marker are true? Interesting."

"You know about the Marker?" Blackfire asked while Robin removed the cuffs.

"Stories of when I was a hatchling. Didn't think they were real though. You learn something knew no matter how old you are." The dragon smashed through the walls allowing his full body entrance into the hanger. His claws squashed many of the fleeing Necromorphs. "Oh now this simply won't do." He reared his head back and unleashed a stream of red hot flame amongst the living dead.

— **/0/—**

Ryand'r finished placing the final explosive onto the base of the Marker, his eyes narrowing in anger as he looked up at the imposing statue. It stood mockingly, continuing to give off its ominous glow, seemingly unaware of the lives it had ruined. He seethed with contempt, so much that his sister had to place a hand onto his shoulder to settle him down.

"Ryand'r, it is almost done."

His shoulders shook with anger and hatred, and a small amount of sadness. "But it won't bring back my friends, the Anodyne people, our people that perished."

"But after today." She interrupted, "No one will ever fall victim again."

He sniffled, rubbing his nose with his sleeve and nodded his head. "Let's finish this." Starfire handed him a detonator then flew him to the opposite end of the hanger beside Robin and Blackfire.

"Cyborg, Beast Boy, get over here!"

Cyborgs armor sparked with damage, the beasts movements became slow and sluggish, making I difficult to follow Robin's command. Traken reached out, scooped them up with his claws and pulled them in, using his wings to guard all of the Titans, just as Ryand'r pressed the trigger, setting off the explosives.

— **/0/—**

The Titans stood over the smoldering pile of ash and rock, kicking aside the debris as if looking for something. They weren't sure what they were looking for, but something had to explain what had happened.

"This doesn't make any sense." Said Cyborg looking down at his arm. " **My analysis of the debris shows nothing unusual. For all intensive purposes, it's just a rock.** "

Robins ran his fingers over through the ash, rubbing it between his fingers. "Robin?" Starfires quiet voice pulled him from his thoughts. "Are you well?"

He got to his feet and dusted off his hands. "I'm fine, for now. I think it's time we leave this place and contact the Green Lantern Corp. This is there problem now." Everyone looked at Robin with wide eyed surprise. "I know. I'm not the kind to hand something off, but after today I don't ever want to see this place or case again." He didn't bother looking at them to know they were stunned into silence.

Starfire pulled him into a hug. Knowing there was much more that he wanted to say, but pride kept him silent.

"So this is a victory then?" Traken asked.

"Supposedly," Cyborg responded, "Why?"

Traken looked over the Titans. Starfire and Robin were consoling each other while Ryand'r and Blackfire were with each other. The beast was curled up against Trakens belly, licking his wounds that were slowly beginning to heal themselves.

He tilted his head in a shrugging fashion. "I guess casualties take many shapes. Although I can safely say I approve of Drake's new clan. OUR new clan."

Cyborg's arm began buzzing and after pressed a few buttons, smiled. " **Speaking of clan —** we've got backup coming on the upper levels."

Everyone looked at him oddly. "You called for backup? Who?"

The roof suddenly caved in allowing a behemoth of a man, bearded and holding two axes in his hands, to slam into the ground. The orange tint to his skin and red to his beard made him indistinguishable. He let out a battle cry that shook the hanger.

"Who dares harm my bumgorfs!?" Galfore shouted in Tameranean. "My axe thirsts for blood!" Tameranean soldiers soon followed ready to provide assistance to a battle that had long since ended.

 **One thing I don't like about stories like these is that there aren't usually a lot of fluffy scenes. Hopefully I can squeeze one of two in here next chapter.**

 **Lets tie up some loose ends and we'll see ya next time.**


	10. R&R

**Ah, it does my heart good to finish a fic. What were your thoughts on this story? Good? Bad? Did it need more? Less? More fluff? What did you think?**

 **stay tuned to the end of the stories when I'll have a special announcement.**

 **On with the show.**

 **Chapter 10: R &R**

Back on the upper levels of the Sprawl, armed Tameranean guards stood over the remaining member of Fosters congregation, unsure what if any f them had planned for retaliation. However judging from their frightened and defeated looks, they were actually glad the soldiers were there by way of protection.

Starfire stood beside the grand ruler as they oversaw the arrest, while the other Tamaranean troops he had brought along with him exterminated the remains of the necromorphs down below.

She looked up to her once caretaker. "Knorf'ka?" Galfore grunted in acknowledgment. "What will become of them?"

He snorted in contempt. "The lanterns will see to their arrests and interrogations. Once again getting involved only after the crisis is over."

She placed a firm hand onto his arm causing him to look down into her eyes. "Galfore please, I have no love for the Green Lanterns either, but I beg of you, let them take charge of this?"

His bushy red eyebrows rose. She only used his full name when the situation called for it. Looking into her eyes he saw they were heavy with fear, worry, and concern. "Please."

He placed his large hands onto her shoulders. "Koriand'r, What is it you and your friends have gotten into?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. "I do not know, but he does."

Galfore followed her line of sight until he was looking at Ryand'r. Galfore looked away, a look of shame quickly overcoming his once strong features.

"No. It is not the time, nor place to speak to him."

"Then when?" She asked pleadingly.

He took a deep breath and released slowly. "When he is home." He looked down at her and placed another hand onto her shoulder. "Gather your team. I'm taking you back to Tameran."

She tilted her head. "Won't the Lanterns wish to speak to us?"

He scoffed again as he headed to his ship. "Then they know where to find you. Or maybe not. They seem to have trouble finding Tameran."

Starfire allowed herself a giggle at his jab before grabbing her brother and sister, who both made it clear they didn't wish to ride with the Tameranean royal guard back to Tameran, and headed for the T-ship.

The group surrounding her ship was more unusual then Starfire was used to. Robin was already in the cockpit of his pod getting the ship ready while Cyborg was trying to get Beast Boy and Drake to change back into their human forms. Robin looked up when he noticed the Tameraneans approaching.

"We are going to Tameran." Starfire announced. "Let us leave this place."

"Tell That to them." Cyborg jabbed his thumb and the two animorphs.

Traken hummed deep in his chest. "I am aware that we must depart soon." He took a deep breath, "I'm just enjoying the open air, however artificial it may be."

Cyborg was about to argue, but only shook his head and looked back to the Beast. " **You too?"**

The beast shrugged, his ears lowered and head lowered with a small whimper. Cyborg sighed again and just rubbed his head. "I know Rae ain't here, but we gotta get outta here — **if you wish to see her again. I myself need to reset my systems and I can only do that —** on the ship."

The beast tilted his head curiously, as if thinking over what Cyborg was asking. Finally he leaned back on his haunches and launched himself into the ship. He sniffed around until he found a scent he recognized and settled in. However the pod he entered wasn't his.

It was Ravens.

They all shrugged it off and looked up at the relaxing Traken. He rolled his large eyes. "Fine."

"Mister Traken," Starfire floated up until she was eye level with the dragon. "I thank you for your help in rescuing us, and Drake."

Trakens scaled lips twitched into a small smile. "It was a pleasure my dear." He looked around at the Titans. "I genuinely hope I see you all again soon. I can safely say I approve of our new clan."

A bright blue glow emanated from the center of his chest where his heart was located, wrapping the dragon in its warmth. They covered their eyes away from the light until the enormous form of the dragon was gone replaced with the staggering human shape of their teammate.

He wobbled on his feet looking around at his surroundings with confusion. "Hey . . . guys?" Before falling over unconscious.

— **/0/—**

 **Tameran. Several hours later.**

Galfore stood before a pair of large violet doors, and had been for several minutes at this point. Starfire had been patiently standing beside him the entire time, simply waiting for him to make the first move.

His head fell. "What . . . what do I say?"

She looked up at him, one of her smaller hands resting on his shoulder. "The truth that comes from your heart."

He didn't move, but it was clear in his eyes that he was thinking about what he was going to say and what he was about to do. After another few minutes he sighed, getting himself prepared, and pounded on the door. There was silence on the other side for a moment or two before a quiet voice told them to come in.

Galfore took another deep breath before pushing against the heavy door.

Ryand'r sat at the foot of his bed holding in his hand a small metallic disk projecting a hologram picture of a middle aged Tameranean couple. Galfore felt his heart rip in two when he saw the couple that Ryand'r was staring at was the former grand rulers of Tameran.

His parents.

Though Galfore could feel a pain in his chest, he also felt a twitch of pride. Once arriving on Tameran, Ryand'r was cleaned, redressed in Tameranean clothes, and received a much needed haircut for his unruly curly hair. Seeing the young Tameranean, Galfore felt pride for the young warrior he had become, even if the lessons he learned were against his will.

Ryand'r looked at the hologram for a few moments longer before finally clicking the device off and tossing it aside, but still hadn't acknowledged Galfore or his sisters presence.

In an attempt to get things moving, Starfire stepped forward. "Ryand'r, are you finding everything to your satisfaction?"

He looked around his chambers. "It's a lot bigger then I remember."

Starfire let out a dry chuckle, "Well it has been well over six years."

Both Galfore and Ryand'r stiffened, But finally Galfore began. "Ryand'r. Allow me too —"

Ryand'r held up his hand, silencing him. "I've spent much time thinking about why you sent me away, and I have come to the conclusion that you did what you felt was best." He stood up and headed towards the large window overlooking the grand temple. "If anything was to happen to me, then the royal family would be extinct. You were keeping the best interests of the kingdom at heart, and for that I do not fault you. Nor do I fault you for what happened with the Marker On Anodyne. You had no way of knowing that monstrosity would turn the planet to a wasteland."

His shoulders began to tremble. "But I still feel the anger and for you sending me away. I couldn't be here to see my parents final days. I couldn't say goodbye as my sisters were taken to points unknown." He turned around, the moonlight shimmering against the tears in his eyes. "I cannot forgive you. Not yet. That is why I will be returning with Starfire to earth. I no longer recognize this planet, and I am not ready to return."

Through the hairs of his beard, Galfore's lip began to tremble. "I understand. But know this, my bumgorf." He approached, towering over the young man. "My heart broke each day and I hated myself every second for the choice I made. No matter what you may think of me, I will always love you as my own and I will spend the rest of my days being both ashamed and so very sorry for what I have done."

Overcome with emotion Ryand'r wrapped his arms around him as far as his arms could. "And I will always love you as my father."

As the two continued to embrace and cry over each other, Starfire wiped a few of her own tears away, before slipping out of the room.

— **/0/—**

Walking the halls of her old home, she felt a small sense of nostalgia thinking back fondly of the memories she held dear as a child. The last few years on Tameran were troubling for sure, but there were some good memories. She sighed fondly, allowing her finger tips to drag against the walls of the temple on her way back to her chambers. Stepping inside, her Boy Wonder was just waking up from a nap and was giving his body a well deserved stretch. His uniform-less body.

Her breath caught in her throat. She was never one to ogle her boyfriend shirtless, but it wouldn't hurt to sneak a peek . . . . . a long peek.

"Starfire?"

She shook her head. "Greetings!"

He hurriedly dressed himself, much to her disappointment. But she couldn't help but find it adorable by how red faced he seemed as he clothed.

"What's, um, Did Galfore do, um . ."

She placed the tips of her fingers against her lips as if the action could hide her giggling. "Galfore is meeting with Ryand'r as we speak. I felt it best to give them the privacy."

"Oh well that's good." He fastened his cape around his neck. "What about Blackfire?"

He face took on a more forlorn look. "Well. Though the Marker did not affect her, she is still damaged from her time in captivity."

He nodded and he approached her. "I guess what I'm asking is if she's capable of betraying you again?"

She shrugged. "I do not know."

He took her by the hands. "And what about you? How are you doing with all this?"

There was a smile on her lips, but her eyes held some reservations. "I am happy to see my home, and filled with so much joy that I have found my brother. However our friends, and yourself have been through much over the last few days. Do you suppose it is time for another vacation?"

His answer surprised her.

"I think we can all do with some rest and relaxation after this." She was prepared to plead her case, but now she didn't know what to say. "I know Gotham isn't the best vacation spot, but I was thinking maybe you and I can go by the mansion. See the sights, spends some time together. I'm sure Beast Boy—oof!"

Powerful arms wrapped around him in a bone crushing hug. "Oh Robin! I would love to see your world as you have seen mine. We will have the most wonderful vacation together!" She suddenly stopped before lowering herself to the ground. "But wait, what about Ryand'r?"

Robin already knew that her brother would be accompanying them back to earth and was all to fine with it. "Maybe in a few weeks then. Give Ryand'r a chance to settle in. But don't worry. We all need to R&R after this."

She felt a bit of disappointment at the prospect of having to wait to spend alone time with her beau, but she was excited at the idea of showing her baby brother her new home.

"Then patient I will be." She cupped the sides of his face and graced him with a gentle kiss on his lips. The muscles in her arms tightened when she felt him turn into Cooke's noodles under her lips. This of course caused to her giggle between their kisses and just how adorable she found him.

"Awwwwwwwe!"

The two separated. Robin shooting a death glare at the one who dared interrupt their moment.

"Really Beast Boy?"

He held his stomach in laughter. "Come on. I have to live vicariously through you guys until Rae comes home."

Robin rolled his eyes. "That reminds me—"

"Ahp!" He held up his hand. "Save that thought. Drake's got something we need to see."

"Glorious! Drake is well again?" Starfire asked hopefully.

Beast Boy led the pair from Robin guest room down the hall. "Yup. Did some Raven meditation and now he's back to his grumpy old self."

They were close enough to the other guest chambers now that they suddenly heard, "I am not!"

Cyborg and Drake were waiting for the others to join them. "Good to see you two up and about." Robin smiled.

"Yup! Got all my systems reset and ready to go!" Cyborg announced happily.

Drake nodded in agreement. "And my connection to the dragon is as strong as ever. It's weird, I've never felt a bond like this before."

"Well I personally much prefer Traken over you any day." Beast Boy teased.

Drake laughed mockingly. "Bite me."

"If that's what you're into."

"You couldn't handle this."

"Alright knock it off you too." Robin scolded as he stood between them. "Drake you said you needed to see us?"

Drake reached over to a large bulbous looking creature and stroked the top of its head. It's mouth opened revealing a stack of papers that he took and handed to Robin.

"Living furniture. Neat. Anyways I found these in one of the labs during our adventure below the city. Cyborg and I were looking over them as soon as we got up."

"I looks like they were doing all kinds of experiments with the Marker." Cyborg added.

Starfire narrowed her sparking green eyes. "On my people."

Drake and Cyborg nodded solemnly. "Yes. I'm sorry. Apparently your people are immune to its effects. They tried to find out why, but like the Marker itself, it's still a mystery."

Her fists clenched at her sides. "Does it say anything about the Marker at all?" Robin asked.

"From what we could tell," Cyborg started, "This isn't the only one."

Everyone froze and looked up. "You mean there's more of those damn things." Beast Boy cringed.

"The Sprawl was doing experiments on a Marker until it was destroyed by the general Hammond replaced. Lucky for them they found another one on the planet your brother was on. Anodyne I think. The one before that was found on a distant planet."

"This thing creates chaos and death as easy as breathing," Drake continued. It created those monsters that have been attacking us. The Marker lets out some kind of Alien radio wave that drives people insane, and then death. The Marker then uses some kind of virus to reanimate the corpses into those monsters."

The Titans eyes were wide with horror. "But what of Foster? He wasn't driven mad?" Starfire asked.

"Those who aren't insane end up worshipping the damn thing. Looking over those notes that's how the Marker multiplies. It imprints plans into the minds of one of its worshipers, and they take the blueprints to make more."

Robin was finished flipping through the stack of papers and handed them back. "Does it give any idea as to how many are out there?"

Drake and Cyborg shrugged.

"Friends. There is something you must know. The Marker chooses only one to imprint on, and alas it already has. On Ryand'r."

It took a moment for her team to catch up as to what she was saying. "Dude your brother has the plans to make one of those things?" Beast Boy asked bewildered.

She nodded her head. "But all is well right? All who know that Ryand'r has the plans is gone yes?"

Robin pinched his chin between his fingers in his classic "detective" look. "We don't know how many Markers are out there? For all we know Markers can be anywhere all over the galaxy, and those willing to worship and make more of them."

"In other words, it's probably the best that your baby bro tags along with us." Cyborg put a hand over her shoulders and drew her in close. "We won't let anyone get him sis."

"Where does this leave us though?" Drake asked. "I'm not the kinda guy to shy away from anything, but you have to admit this is a little out of our league."

"I know," Robin stated firmly, "But our job should be to keep Ryand'r safe from harm. So well turn this investigation over to the Green Lantern Corp."

"Like hell." Everyone looked over to the open doors seeing Blackfire, Galfore and Ryand'r standing in the doorway. Though she was cleaned up like her brother, she was still seething with anger. "Since my chance to kill Foster was taken from me, I wanna do the next best thing and wipe out every single one of those Markers myself."

The Titans looked at her in silent surprise. "So I'll ask the obvious question. Since when do you care about . . . well anything besides yourself?"

She smirked. "Make no mistake Beast Boy I still don't like any of you, it's just that I hate the Markers even more now."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Drake smirked.

She narrowed her eyes. "Well after all you were the one that ate him whole?"

Drake suddenly went pale white. "I did what?"

Robin turned to Galfore. "Your okay with Blackfire doing this?"

He gave a curt nod. "I have seen what they have done to my people making this of a personal nature. She will not be alone in her crusade to put and end to every Marker in existence."

Robin chuckled. "I guess I can't argue with that."

"Excuse me. Are we just gonna ignore the fact that I ate a person?"

Ignoring Drake, Robin walked over to Ryand'r. "I know we're not leaving till tomorrow, but are you looking forward to coming to earth with us?"

Ryand'r smiled, but it was clear that he had no idea what it was Robin was saying.

"Sorry Robin. He doesn't speak the earth language yet." Starfire turned to her brother and spoke something in Tameranean. He nodded his head before placing a kiss onto Robin's lips.

— **/0/—**

 **San Francisco. The next day**

"And the answer is seven X."

"Oh! I get it now." Mary-Beth scribbled furiously onto her homework assignment. "I can't believe I struggled so long with that now it all makes perfect sense."

Raven chuckled as she took a long sip of her herbal tea. "Just like everything else in life. One day it just clicks."

Mary-Beth continued to work on her homework assignment while Raven sat beside her at the desk, feeling a deep swell of contentment and warmth in her heart.

"Where did you learn all this anyways if you've never stepped foot in a high school."

Raven felt a tightness form in her throat. She had been here almost a week and it was clear that her family didn't understand her world as either a superhero or someone who was raised in another dimension. Though they didn't understand, they made the effort to get to know her better and Raven was thankful for that. Mary-Beth in particular always seemed curious about her more exotic cousin.

"Well, um, I was taught in Azarath. I guess you can say I was homeschooled."

Mary-Beth forgot about her homework and put all of her focus on Raven with wide eyes. "Azarath? What's that like?"

Raven laughed. "Well they were a pacifist people. No meat, um, we were watched over by the holy presides Azar."

"Oh was she like, your god or something?"

The knot tightened. Another aspect of her family is that they were very religious with a firm belief in the Christian god.

"Well, she's a priestess, not a god or anything,"

Back in the house they could hear a knock at the door followed by her young cousin screaming, "I'll get it!"

"But she taught a lot of the things that God taught. Ya know. Peace, love, acceptance, she pretty much raised me."

Mary-Beth nodded. "Hmm. Interesting."

If there was a god, Raven was praying that this conversation would end. As it usually turns out with prayer, her answer can in an unexpected way.

In this case it was the form of a Dragon Knight standing at the door of the bedroom, with a green tabby cat snoozing on top of his head.

Mary-Beth giggled. "I like your hat."

He snorted at her and with a look of pure agitated, responded. "This green irritant thought you might find this . . funny?"

Raven couldn't fight back the laugh that escaped her throat. "Well. It's a little funny."

Drake laughed back in a mocking tone. "Get. It. Off."

She laughed again. "Awe, how cute. He likes you."

"Noted. Now get it off."

Raven rolled her eyes and approached them. "Off his head Gar."

His small cat eyes snapped open and he leapt into her arms with a happy "meow!", nuzzling under her neck and settled himself into her arms. She smiled and ran her hologram covered hand over his fur, but then realized something.

"What are you guys doing here?"

Drake went from agitated to serious. "Robin felt it would be best for everyone to take some time off."

Her hand froze mid stroke on Beast Boy's back, her expression now shocked into one of concern. "Robin? Our Robin? Is giving you all time off?"

Drake shrugged. "This last mission it, uh . . ."

Raven grew even more concerned when she saw him grow serious and quiet. "Drake what happened?"

He waved his hands. "Don't worry we're all alive, just . . well, he'll fill you in." He motioned to Gar. "I will say, he's extremely lucky to have you."

Drake said his goodbyes and left the two to themselves. Beast Boy was already purring contently in her arms, soothing himself to sleep. She continued to pet him reminding herself to ask him what had happened later.

Herbal tea, and her man in her arms. What more could she ask for?

— **/0/—**

 **Jump city**

Amazingly, even after the horror they were forced to endure as a team, the flight back to Titans tower was quite lively with conversation, laughter and excitement. At least for some of the passengers.

With the comms links to his pod muted he was off in his own little world. Sure with his heightened hearing he could still hear them chatting, but he made sure to keep his attention on his communicator and the chat he was having.

"— _so when do you think you'll be around Jump City again?"_

" _Um maybe next week. Why?"_

" _No particular reason. This mission was rather heavy and I well . . ."_

" _Gasp. Can it be? The big bad dragon knight had a tough mission?_

" _Ha ha, laugh it up miss Kole. It was my first time in outer space."_

" _Oh I'm laughing my wings off."_

" _Wings that I still haven't seen by the way."_

" _And you never will ;)"_

He chuckled to himself and continued on, all the while Starfire was talking a mile a minute from her pod.

"—and they have this wonder yellow beverage called Mustard! Cyborg makes sure to order by the Gel-gorgs! Then there is the painting of nails and the mall of shopping—"

"Uh maybe the shopping mall isn't the best place Star. It's not really a guy place." Cyborg commented.

"Oh. Then what is a 'guy place'?" She asked.

"The batting cages are fun," Robin thought aloud, "if Beast Boy was here he'd recommend laser tag."

Ryand'r looked puzzled and responded in perfect English. "But by my understanding, tag is a harmless earth game. Why would you wish to use lasers? Are humans durable?"

Robin shifted uncomfortably in the seat of his pod. "Well there not lasers, per say, there more beams of light?"

Ryand'r was still confused. "That's what lasers are though."

Cyborg and Robin facepalmed. Once again they were going to have to teach the complexities of earthling ways.

"Worry not brother. It has taken me much time to get accustomed to earth ways, you can get it in six easy years."

"Yeah Ryand'r, you'll fit in fine."

"I give you the thanks Robin. And feel free to call me by my earth name if you wish. Wildfire."

"Oh dear." Starfire gasped. "I guess I am not as well versed about the earth as I thought I was. I was under the impression that during the summer months on earth it is quite warm."

The Titans glanced at each other. "Yeah Star, it's August. Usually the hottest month of the year in SoCal."

She turned to Cyborg with confusion before pointing out into the distance. "Then. Is that normal?"

The Titans followed her pointer finger to their home.

Titans Tower was completely frozen.

 **As promised I have a special announcement.**

 **It is with a heavy heart that I take a break From fanfiction for a short while, at least until the 14th. I will have the chance to have the novel I have been working on looked over by professionals published authors and editors, I'm not sure if anything will come of it, but it's worth it To try it out. This being the case I will be working on my novel and not fanfiction, but once I'm finished I'll be back.**

 **And figure out why the tower is frozen solid.**

 **Until next time.**


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